WAM/JMLiBMJ!^^ 


WHAT  SOCIOLOGY  HAS  TO  CONTRIBUTE 
TO  THE  SCIENCE  OF  EDUCATION 


JOSEPH  T.  WILLIAMS 


mmmmfrikWmmmiwrmmkWi^\\mfm^ 


EDUCATION  IN  RECENT  SOaOLOGY 


A  series  of  seven  reprints  from  Education^  March  to 

December,    1921,    indicating  the  contributions 

of  sociologists  to  the  science  of  education 


BY 


JOSEPH  T.  WILLIAMS,  Ph.  D.,  (Columbia) 


SALEM,  MASS. 

Newcomb  &  Gauss,  Prin^sbrs 

1921 


FOREWORD 

For  several  years  it  has  been  my  work  to  teach  both  Sociology  and 
the  Principles  of  Education  to  prospective  teachers  among  college  stu- 
dents. As  material  for  the  latter  course  I  have  found  myself  drawing 
increasingly  from  the  writings  of  the  sociologists.  What  our  sociol- 
ogists have  to  contribute  to  the  science  of  education  has  not  been 
adequately  recognized.  To  promote  this  recognition  for  the  ends  it 
may  serve  has  been  the  purpose  of  these  seven  articles.  Of  course, 
the  publications  of  the  six  authors  considered  do  not  exhaust  what 
sociology  has  to  contribute  to  education,  nor  do  these  sketches  by  any 
means  exliaust  the  six.  This  is  but  a  preliminary  study.  I  am  indebted 
to  the  Editor  of  Education  for  bringing  this  material  to  the  attention 
of  the  teaching  profession. 

JOSEPH   T.   WILLIAMS. 

Drury  College, 

Springfield,  Mo. 

Dec.   15,  1921. 


SPU.F 
URL 


SYNOPSIS 

Chapter  I.  Although  no  longer  new,  Ward's  contribution  has  had 
great  influence  on  recent  soeiologj'.  Unceasingly  Ward  urged  education 
as  the  sole  means  of  social  progress.  He  shows  education  to  be  man's 
supreme  method  and  opportunity  if  he  would  control  his  social  destiny. 
He  repudiated  Galton's  contention  of  the  irrepressibility  of  genius.  Most 
often  genius  remains  undiscovered.  Society  is  to  be  enriched  by  drawing 
forth  the  latent  qualities  of  the  masses.  The  universal  diffusion  of  , 
scientific   knowledge   furnishes   the  means   to  this  end.  Page   1. 

Chapter  II.  The  organic  conception  of  mind  underlies  the  social  phi- 
losophy of  Cooley.  In  it  alone  we  discover  the  true  relation  between  the 
individual  and  his  group.  Any  society  or  social  group  implies  a  union 
by  means  of  a  common  consciousness.  A  school  group  is  an  illustration 
of  organized  mind.  The  pupil  shares  in  a  common  consciousness  which 
determines  him  and  to  which  he  also  contributes.  Family,  playground, 
and  school  groups  are  the  main  determinants  of  the  growing  personality 
of  the  child.  Apparently  the  character  of  one's  group  memberships  is 
the   essential   thing   in  one's   education.     Definition   of   a  universitJ^ 

Page   11. 

Chapter  III.  A  search  for  the  means  of  social  progress  is  the  task 
undertaken  by  Todd.  In  a  lengthy  definition,  progress  is  seen  to  be  a 
complex  of  many  factors,  all  centering  about  human  well-being  as  their 
aim.  A  prerequisite  consideration  in  any  program  of  progress  is  the 
character  of  human  nature,  that  is,  of  the  self.  Fortunatety,  human 
nature  is  found  to  be  plastic  and  adaptable,  rich  in  variety  and  possi- 
bility. One  has  many  possible  "selves"  ;  which  of  them  shall  dominate 
is  mainly  a  matter  of  the  social  environment.  A  type  of  personality 
which  is  not  exploitive,  nor  even  adaptive,  but  contrihutice,  is  essential 
to  progress.  It  will  be  secured  only  by  a  comprehensive  system  of  social 
education,  which  is  therefore  the  means  to  progress.  Page  21. 

Chapter  IV.  Ellwood  writes  from  the  viewpoint  of  social  psychology. 
The  social  life  is  essentially  psychic  and  sociology  is  essentially  a 
psychic  science.  Social  life  is  therefore  to  be  interpreted  in  such  terms 
as  instinct,  acquired  habit,  mental  attitude,  suggestion,  values,  senti- 
ment, ideas,  emotion,  intelligence.  It  is  likewise  such  psychic  data  with 
which  education  is  concerned.  In  fact,  the  human  social  process  itself 
is  essentially  an  educative  process,  a  consideration  which  is  basal  to  the 
construction  of  an  educational  sociologj'.  Education  is  found  to  be  the 
ultimate  method  of  social  organization  and  of  social  progress.  Good 
citizenship  requires  that  the  social  studies  be  central  in  the  school. 

Page  32. 


IV  SYNOPSIS 

Cliapter  V.  Numerous  phases  of  education  are  touched  upon  by  Eoss. 
Of  these  the  following  are  given  special  attention:  (a)  The  effects  of 
social  cont-acts  upon  the  growth  of  the  individual:  (b)  Social  environ- 
ment as  a  factor  in  the  character  of  persons  and  peoples;  (c)  The  place 
of  recreation  and  of  art  in  life;  (d)  Eugenics  and  the  education  of 
women;  (e)  Arguments  for  teaching  the  social  sciences;  (f)  Relation 
of  the  school  to  the  government;  (g)  Education  as  protection  against 
mob  mind.  Page  43. 

Chapter  VI.  Education  assumes  a  large  place  in  the  sociology  of 
Hayes.  Let  us  consider  his  treatment  of  social  control.  Through  its 
agencies  of  control,  the  developed  society  is  able  to  direct  consciously 
and  rationally  the  social  process.  Bxit  society  will  work  for  a  rational 
goal  only  if  control  is  united  with  enlightenment.  Enlightened  control 
depends  upon  the  prevalence  of  a  type  of  personality  characterized  by 
certain  social  traits.  The  desired  type  of  personality,  the  definition  of 
which  is  elaborated  by  Hayes,  must  be  a  product  of  education.  Reasons 
for  the  belief  that  much  greater  co-operation  in  the  social  life  is 
attainable.  Page  56. 

Chapter  Nil.  Our  sociologists  urge  ideas  which  we  associate  with 
enlightened  democracy :  e.  g.,  a  belief  in  the  latencies  of  the  masses, 
recognition  of  the  worth  of  the  common  man,  a  leadership  always  to 
be  tested  by  the  service  ideal.  Society  being  dynamic  is  capable  of  con- 
tinued leorganization  consistent  with  the  growth  and  expression  of  the 
humaTi  self  as  a  social  being.     Education  is  the  method  of  progress. 

Sociology  may  be  expected  to  supjjly  education  with  aims  both  ulti- 
mate and  immediate,  therefore  with  that  larger  vision  it  lacks.  Educa- 
tional sociology  will  build  on  the  fundamental  concepts  of  sociology  as 
a  basis;  it  will  study  the  educational  effects  of  numerous  agencies  in 
the  social  environment ;  it  will  define  the  character  and  ends  of  school 
activities  in  reference  to  social  aims.  Page  70. 


Education  in  Recent  Sociology 

I 

f""""'"""""""""'|DUCATIONAL  Sociology  is  a  part  of  the  field  of 
I  «-«  I  applied  sociology.  A  literature  of  educational 
I  p^  I  sociology  is  rapidly  developing.  To  be  worth 
I  I    while    it    needs    the    foundation   of    a    solid    soci- 

^jiniiiiiiiiiDiiHniHHK^  ology.  The  opinions  of  men  who  are  primarily  soci- 
I  I    ologists,    and    the    educational    bearing    of    their 

I  I    writinsfs,  have  significance  for  students  in  this  field, 

feuch  IS  the  purpose  oi  the  present  discussion.  We 
are  interested  in  the  views  of  these  men  not  as  individuals  but  as 
sociologists.  We  want  to  know  the  place  of  education  as  they  see 
it  in  the  whole  movement  of  society.  We  are  concerned  with  their 
educational  conclusions  as  parts  or  outgrowths  of  their  sociological 
systems. 

Our  present  study  will  be  limited  to  the  writings  of  six  repre- 
sentative American  sociologists:  Lester  F.  Ward,,  Charles  H. 
Cooley,  Arthur  J.  Todd,  Charles  A.  Ellwood,  Edward  A.  Ross 
and  Edward  Cary  Hayes.  Each  of  these  will  be  the  subject  of 
one  article,  and  a  seventh  will  deal  with  a  summary  and  some  sug- 
gestions for  an  educational  sociology.  While  Ward's  contribution 
is  no  longer  new,  it  has  had  much  influence  on  more  recent  writings 
along  this  line. 

Lesteb  E.  Waed. 

In  1883  Ward  published,  in  two  volumes.  Dynamic  Sociology.  It 
remains  his  greatest  work  although  followed  by  other  significant 
volumes,  especially  Psychic  Factors  in  Civilization,  1893,  Out- 
lines of  Sociology,  1898,  Pure  Sociology,  1903,  and  Applied  So- 
ciology, 1906.    His  educational  views  are  expressed  at  most  length 


2  EDUCATION  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY 

in  the  second  volume  of  Dynamic  Sociology  and  in  Applied  Soci- 
ology. But  his  copious  references  to  education  and  constant  as- 
sertion that  it  alone  is  the  means  to  human  progress  are  found 
throughout  his  sociological  writings  covering  a  period  of  thirty 
years.  That  faith  in  education  as  the  social  panacea  remained 
undimmed  until  the  close  of  his  life  is  evident  in  a  number  of 
letters  and  addresses  published  near  the  end  of  "Glimpses  of  the 
Cosmos,"  an  autobiography  of  his  literary  career,  in  six  volumes. 
In  volume  six  of  the  series  is  printed  an  address  called  "Education 
and  Progress,"  which  is  a  partial  summary  and  reiteration  of  his 
educational  doctrine.    It  was  given  at  Oxford  in  1909. 

The  sociologist,  like  the  poet,  lives  in  a  house  by  the  side  of  the 
road  as  the  race  of  men  go  by.  What  we  call  sociology  is  a  study 
of  the  social  procession.  It  has  to  do  with  a  human  group  that  is 
moving.  Is  it  a  progressive  movement  in  the  direction  of  a  de- 
sired goal,  or  mere  drift  ?  Does  social  evolution  necessarily  bring 
higlier  conditions  of  life;  in  other  words,  is  progress  inevitable? 
Is  the  pessimism  expressed  recently  in  a  cosmopolitan  daily,  "The 
world  is  like  a  squirrel  in  a  revolving  cage,  going  nowhere  with 
great  rapidity,"  justified  of  the  social  process  in  general  ?  How 
significant  is  the  human  will  in  the  process  ?  How  far  can  we 
hope  to  determine  our  social  destiny  'i  These  are  problems  for  the 
sociologist. 

Volume  one  of  Dynamic  Sociology  has  to  do  with  the  evolution 
of  the  physical  world  and  with  man  as  the  product  of  natural 
forces.  Man's  consciousness  was  at  first  a  negligible  factor  in  his 
evolution.  But  the  evolutionary  process  in  producing  the  mind  of 
man,  capable  of  unlimited  adaptation,  marked  him  off  as  distinct 
and  superior  to  the  rest  of  nature.  Man  has  become  conscious  of 
the  movement  of  which  he  is  a  part.  He  looks  about  and  finds 
it  is  possible  within  limits  to  understand  and  direct  the  process. 
The  human  will,  therefore,  enters  as  a  factor,  and  the  process  be- 
comes at  least  in  part  self-directive.  This  is  a  matter  of  the  utmost 
importance.     Man's  social  destiny  is  in  his  own  keeping.     Ward 


EDUCATION  IN  EECENT  SOCIOLOGY  3 

urges  unceasingly  the  possibilities  to  come  from  the  conscious 
direction  of  social  processes,  and  the  superiority  of  conscious  over 
unconscious  control,  a  point  of  view  of  great  significance  in  the 
history  of  thought.  From  this  point  we  have  to  consider  the  place 
of  man's  knowledge  and  of  his  conscious  effort  in  the  social  process. 

Ward  concluded  that  the  end  of  life  is  happiness,  that  such  is 
what  men  individually  and  collectively  seek.  He  was  unquestion- 
ably influenced  by  the  ethics  of  Utilitarianism.  But  with  Ward 
it  is  less  a  matter  of  the  individual  happiness  quest  than  in  the 
earlier  utilitarian  writings.  He  is  concerned  with  the  collective 
organization  of  happiness,  happiness  for  all  by  combined  social 
effort. 

The  problem  throughout  volume  two  of  Dynamic  Sociology  con- 
cerns what  the  author  calls  conation,  which  may  be  defined  as 
striving,  or  more  particularly,  intelligent  striving.  We  have  al- 
ready seen  that  man  strives  after  happiness.  But  any  direct  pur- 
suit of  happiness  is  barren  of  results.  There  is  a  series  of  more 
immediate  ends  necessary  as  means  to  collective  happiness,  the 
ultimate  goal.  Happiness  is  reached  by  a  series  of  steps  each  lead- 
ing directly  to  the  next.  These  are  Education,  Knowledge, 
Opinion,  Action,  Progress  and  Happiness.  Education  is  therefore 
the  initial  means  in  the  organization  of  happiness.  The  formula 
might  be  abbreviated  to  read :  Education  is  essential  to  the  spread 
of  knowledge  and  therefore  to  the  creation  of  that  dynamic  public 
opinion  which  alone  can  result  in  progress  in  the  direction  of  or- 
ganized happiness.  As  Professor  Ellwood  puts  it:  "Ward  saw 
clearly  that  the  social  life  of  man  is  of  a  nature  of  a  developing 
social  mind;  that  to  control  action  we  must  control  opinions,  be- 
liefs, ideas  and  standards." 

Education  is  then  the  basal  condition  of  progress.  Not  only  is 
education  the  initial  step,  but  with  it  accomplished  all  the  other 
steps  follow  automatically.  Ward's  subliine  ^^th  in  education  as 
the  means  to  social  welfare  is  shown  in  a  passage  in  Applied  Soci- 
ology. Four  of  the  terms  of  the  series  leading  to  the  organization 
of  happiness,  he  says,  are  practically  beyond  the  reach  of  social 
action,  and  "only  in  the  first  term,  Education,  do  we  find  anything 
tangible,  anything  upon  which  society  can  directly  lay  hold  and 
exert  its  power  to  change,  modify  and  improve.     But  it  was  also 


4  EDUCATION   IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY 

fouiul  tliat  the  entire  series  of  means  are  so  related  and  dependent, 
each  upon  the  immediately  antecedent  one,  that  whatever  affects 
any  one  affects  all  above  it,  so  that  it  is  not  necessary  to  apply 
force  to  any  of  the  intermediate  terms,  as  the  force  applied  to  the 
most  remote  term  is  communicated  automatically  through  the  entire 
series  and  ultimately  cxj^ends  itself  without  loss  in  transmission 
upon  the  end  itself.  The  rude  comparison  made  of  a  row  of 
bricks  stood  on  end,  of  which  it  is  only  necessary  to  touch  the 
first  one  to  see  them  all  fall  in  succession,  is  a  perfect  illustration 
of  the  process  and  one  within  the  comprehension  of  all."^  Let  fall 
the  brick  of  education  and  humanity  may  be  expected  to  move 
on  in  happy  procession. 

Education  is  the  sole  means  to  economic  reform.  Ward  dis- 
played impatience  with  projected  social  and  economic  reforms 
not  preceded  by  educational  changes.  Social  reform  other  than  by 
educational  means  is  a  chimera.  "There  can  be  no  equality  and  no 
justice,  not  to  speak  of  equity,  so  long  as  society  is  composed  of 
members  equally  endowed  by  nature,  only  a  few  of  whom  possess 
the  social  heritage  of  truth  and  ideas  resulting  from  the  laborious 
investigations  and  profound  meditations  of  all  past  ages,  while 
the  great  mass  are  shut  out  from  the  light  that  human  achieve- 
ment has  shed  upon  the  world.  The  equalization  of  opportunity 
means  the  equalization  of  intelligence,  and  not  until  this  is  at- 
tained is  there  any  virtue  or  any  hope  in  schemes  for  the  equaliza- 
tion of  the  material  resources  of  society."^  Earlier  passages  ex- 
press the  same  idea.  ''It  is  high  time  for  socialists  to  perceive 
that  as  a  rule  they  are  working  at  the  roof  instead  of  the  founda- 
tion of  the  structure  they  desire  to  erect.  The  distribution  of 
knowledge  underlies  all  social  reform.  So  long  as  capital  and 
labor  are  the  respective  symbols  of  intelligence  and  ignorance  the 
present  inequity  in  the  distribution  of  wealth  must  continue."^ 

The  world's  intellectual  heritage  belongs  to  all  men.  "Ward 
makes  the  strongest  plea  for  a  general  diffusion  of  knowledge. 
"In  the  administration  of  the  social  estate  the  first  and  principal 

1  Applied  Sociology,  p.  280. 

2  Ibid,  p.  281. 

3  Dynamic  Sociology,  II,  p.  59S. 


EDUCATION  IN  EECENT  SOCIOLOGY  5 

task  is  to  hunt  up  all  the  heirs  and  to  give  each  his  share.  But 
every  member  of  society  is  equally  the  heir  to  the  entire  social 
heritage,  and  as  we  have  already  seen,  all  may  possess  it  without 
depriving  any  of  any  part  of  it.  And  as  the  social  heritage  con- 
sists of  the  knowledge  that  has  been  brought  into  the  world,  this 
task  is  nothing  less  than  the  diffusion  of  all  knowledge  among  all 
men."^ 

All  knowledge  among  all  men  sounds  like  the  old  doctrine  of 
pansophism;  but  it  is  not  that  because  it  has  reference,  not  to 
complete  knowledge  of  the  universe,  but  to  the  intellectual  in- 
heritance already  enjoyed  by  the  fortunate.  It  includes  the 
sciences  of  astronomy,  physics,  chemistry,  biology,  psychology  and 
sociolog}',  under  which,  says  Ward  may  be  grouped  all  the  facts 
and  phenomena  in  the  universe  known  to  the  mind  of  man.  All 
persons  are  not  supposed  to  attain  equal  knowledge  of  the  details 
of  these  several  sciences,  but  all  should  become  acquainted  with 
their  general  truths. 

What  the  world  especially  needs,  says  Ward,  is  a  new  faith  in 
the  power  of  scientific  education,  a  faith  as  deep  and  powerful 
as  that  inspired  by  religious  creeds  in  the  past.  Likewise  we 
need  to  understand  that  the  ends  of  progress  are  certainly  at- 
tainable, through  the  utilization  of  the  material  and  social  forces 
which  exist  in  nature. 

Does  genius  always  become  known  ?  Is  it  not  rather  subject 
to  opportunity,  and  therefore  is  it  not  probable  that  the  genius 
which  remains  latent  is  vaster  in  amount  by  far  than  that  which 
becomes  known  ?  Ward  opposed  vigorously  the  conclusions  ex- 
pressed by  Francis  Galton  in  his  studies  of  hereditary  genius. 
According  to  Galton  genius  is  very  certain  to  assert  itself.  It 
tends  to  be  irrepressible.  In  this  view  environment  is  a  negligible 
factor  in  the  assertion  of  genius.  Like  murder  genius  "will  out." 
Moreover,  says  Galton,  when  any  man  attains  a  high  reputation  it 
is  excellent  proof  that  he  has  high  native  ability. 

Ward  did  not  deny  the  worth  of  the  evidence  which  Galton 
submitted  to  prove  that  genius  may  be  hereditary.     But  he  urged 

4  Applied  Sociology,  p.  307. 


6  EDUCATION  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY 

that  Gallon  was  mistaken  in  his  collateral  thesis  that  actual  genius 
is  the  only  genius.  Hidden  among  the  people  is  an  amount  of 
genius  far  greater  than  that  familiar  to  the  world.  It  remains 
latent.  Genius  is  not  irrepressible.  It  requires  opportunity  to 
bring  it  out.  Ward  admits  that  human  achievement  has  been  the 
work  of  a  very  small  number  of  individuals,  but,  "How  many 
such  minds  there  may  be  at  any  given  time  it  is  impossible  to 
determine  because  those  that  are  kno\vn  to  exist  are  only  such  as 
have  been  permitted  by  environment  to  assert  themselves.  Great 
men  then  are  the  mentally  endowed  who  have  had  a  chance  to 
use  their  talents.  There  is  reason  to  believe  too  that  this  is  only 
a  small  percentage  of  those  who  possess  talents."^  The  treasures 
of  the  earth  are  segregated  and  exist  only  in  rare  spots,  while  the 
treasures  of  human  genius  are  somewhat  uniformly  distributed 
and  there  is  no  region  which,  if  properly  worked,  will  not  yield 
them."2 

Ward  is  undoubtedly  correct  in  criticising  the  manner  of  Gal- 
ton's  conclusions.  Galton  did  mistake  the  high  position  of  public 
functionaries  for  superior  ability,  and  like  coins  took  them  at  their 
stamped  rather  than  at  their  intrinsic  value.  From  Galton's  well 
known  study  of  the  Judges  of  England,  to  whom  as  eminent 
office  holders  he  reputed  genius,  Ward  deduces  that  their  "great- 
ness" is  due  almost  wholly  to  their  positions.  Reflection  upon  the 
subtle  analysis  required  to  distinguish  hereditary  elements  from 
environmental  effects  shows  the  naviete  of  Galton's  method. 

That  those  who  manifest  talent  are  but  a  small  percentage  of 
those  who  might  do  so,  and  that  human  genius  is  somewhat  evenly 
distributed  among  all  classes  is  not  a  mere  assumption  with  Ward. 
He  submits  proof.  Chapter  IX  which  comprises  nearly  one  third 
of  the  contents  of  Applied  Sociology  contains  an  elaborate  and 
detailed  study  of  the  effects  of  environment  in  producing  dis- 
tinguished men.  It  is  based  on  investigations  by  Odin,  Candolle, 
Jacoby,  Galton  and  others.  The  percentage  of  the  eminent  in  a 
given  area  is  shown  to  be  affected  by  density  of  population,  near- 
ness to  cultural  centers,  and  other  educational  and  economic  ele- 

1  Applied  Sociology,  p.  133, 

2  Ibid,  p.  237. 


KDUCATION  IN  KECENT  SOCIOLOGY  7 

ments  present  as  environmental  factors.  The  investigation  is 
centered  in  France  but  it  includes  also  England,  Germany,  Italy 
and  Spain.  We  have  space  here  only  for  conclusions.  Ward's 
conclusion  is  that  ninety-eight  per  cent  of  the  men  of  talent  of 
France,  and  only  slightly  less  in  the  four  other  countries,  were 
provided  in  their  youth  with  ample  educational  facilities.  And 
only  about  two  per  cent  of  those  who  became  eminent  succeeded  in 
struggling  up  to  distinction  after  a  limited  or  wholly  neglected 
early  education. 

And  again  in  discussing  the  resources  of  society,  the  "unworked 
mines"  of  talent  among  the  masses.  Ward  concludes  that  only  ten 
per  cent  of  these  resources  have  been  developed.  Another 
ten  per  cent  are  somewhat  developed.  There  remains  eighty 
per  cent  as  yet  almost  wholly  undeveloped.  The  task  of 
applied  sociology  is  to  show  how  the  latent  four-fifths  of  mankind 
can  be  turned  to  account  in  the  work  of  civilization.  Ward  in- 
sists that  talent  and  genius  are  distributed  throughout  the  ranks 
of  the  uneducated  in  the  same  numerical  proportion  as  among  the 
"city  bom,  the  opulent,  the  nobility,  and  ^e  academicians,"  and 
also  that  a  well  organized  system  of  education  would  increase 
fecundity  in  "dynamic  agents  of  society"  or  social  leaders,  at  least 
one  hundred  fold. 

If  it  is  claimed  that  the  above  calculation  is  not  based  upon 
American  conditions  it  is  easy  to  reply  that  in  America  even  few- 
er men  of  distinction  have  emerged.  While  we  have  had  a  large 
crop  of  so  called  "self  made"  men,  the  average  of  these  is  after  all 
not  very  well  made,  and  usually  fails  in  appreciation  of  higher 
humanitarian  values. 

Genius  however  is  relative.  From  Ward's  lengthy  discussion  of 
distinguished  men  it  should  not  be  inferred  that  he  was  obsessed 
with  the  superman  idea,  as  Galton  appears  to  have  been.  Quite 
the  contrary.  Genius  he  held  to  be  entirely  relative.  There  are 
gradations  in  everything  and  likewise  in  genius.  There  are 
aU  conceivable  degrees  of  genius.  A  dweller  on  our  central 
plains  hears  only  of  a  few  great  mountains  in  the  West. 
He  learns  the  names  of  the  high  peaks  in  the  geography  texts. 
The  fact  is,  there  are  whole  ranges  of  mountaii;s  almost  us  high, 


8  EDUCATION  IN  KECENT  SOCIOLOGY 

and  many  more  of  lesser  height  but  of  the  same  compositon  and 
shape.  For  many  purposes  the  latter  may  be  the  more  valuable. 
So  it  is  with  human  ability. 

Ward's  principle  of  ''intellectual  egalitarianism,"  a  term  he  in- 
vented, was  the  theme  of  his  Oxford  address,  1909.  He  main- 
tained that  there  is  no  difference  in  the  native  capacity  of  man- 
kind so  far  as  social  classes  are  concerned,  that  the  brain  power 
is  the  same  at  the  various  levels,  and  that  even  the  lowest  serfs  and 
slaves  have  had  the  same  potential  powers  and  faculties  as  those 
who  have  controlled  and  exploited  them.  Inequality  among  in- 
dividual minds  he  readily  conceded,  but  maintained  that  much 
of  this  inequality  is  but  apparent  and  is  best  interpreted  by  the 
term  "intellectual  individuality." 

Criticisms  of  Ward's  views  are  easy  to  make.  Perhaps  he  un- 
derestimated the  interdependence  of  institutions.  He  may  not 
have  appreciated  well  enough  the  organic  conception  of  society, 
and  so  failed  to  see  the  reciprocal  relation  of  forces  operative  in 
the  social  process.  An  illustration  of  this  is  his  professed  non-in- 
terest in  social  and  economic  reforms  unless  preceded  by  education 
as  the  initial  step.  It  may  be  argued  that  direct  attempts  at 
social,  economic  and  political  reforms  may  themselves  be  the  very 
best  means  of  educating  the  people  in  such  matters.  And  with 
social  reforms  secured,  the  task  of  education  itself  is  easier.  Still 
his  conclusion  is  in  the  main  correct.  Stability  in  social  reform 
is  certainly  dependent  on  changes  in  ideas,  standards  and  values. 
The  experience  of  Boards  of  Health  in  our  large  cities  furnishes 
an  illustration  of  this  kind.  They  have  usually  been  invested  with 
large  powers  which  they  found  impossible  to  use  unless  preceded 
by  extensive  educational  propaganda. 

A  second  criticism  is  in  the  narrovmess  of  his  definition  of 
education.  He  considered  the  problem  of  education  to  be  the 
universal  distribution  of  the  extant  knowledge  of  the  world.  It  is 
so  stated  in  Dynamic  Sociology  and  accepted  unchanged  in  later 
works.  Social  participation  as  an  educational  factor  is  lacking. 
We  do  not  believe  today  that  mere  diffusion  of  knowledge  assures 


EDUCATION   IN  IJECENT   SOCIOLOGY  9 

effective  citizenship.  And  what  is  the  kind  of  knowledge  to  be 
distributed  ?  Although  Ward  included  sociology  as  one  of  the 
six  sciences  in  his  hierarchy,  there  is  little  emphasis  upon  appreci- 
ation of  social  knowledge  as  we  have  begun  to  use  the  term.  For 
instance,  he  defined  Progress  as  "success  in  harmonizing  natural 
phenomena  with  human  advantage,"  and  Dynamic  Opinion  as 
"correct  views  of  man's  relation  to  the  universe."  Ward's  em- 
phasis upon  the  mastery  of  nature  is  in  fact  a  reflection  of  nine- 
teenth century  natural  science.  While  we  admit  that  man's  con- 
quest of  nature  and  his  knowledge  of  natural  phenomena  have  re- 
acted powerfully  upon  human  affairs,  nevertheless  the  problems 
of  applied  sociology  have  to  do  less  with  the  relations  of  man  to 
the  universe  than  with  the  relations  of  man  to  man. 

On  the  other  hand  it  may  be  urged  in  favor  of  Ward's  position 
that  in  nature  he  included  social  forces.  But  in  contrast  to  the 
physical  environment  they  represent  a  division  of  nature  over 
which  man  has  attained  little  control,  due  in  part  to  their  com- 
plexity and  obscurity.  "He  has  made  the  winds,  waters,  fire, 
steam  and  electricity  do  his  bidding  .  .  .  One  field  alone  re- 
mains unsubdued.  One  class  of  natural  forces  still  remains  the 
play  of  chance,  and  from  it  instead  of  aid,  he  is  constantly  re- 
ceiving the  most  serious  checks.  This  field  is  that  of  the  social 
forces,  of  whose  nature  man  seems  to  possess  no  knowledge,  whose 
very  existence  he  ignores,  and  which  he  consequently  is  powerless 
to  control."^  This  may  explain  Ward's  lack  of  emphasis  upon 
social  education.  Knowledge  of  a  social  character  was  not  at  hand 
to  be  taught.  He  certainly  did  recognize  the  need  of  social  science 
in  human  affairs.  He  urged  that  legislators,  administr'ators, 
judges  and  all  dealing  practically  and  directly  with  social  forces 
be  students  of  sociology  and  also  seek  the  assistance  of  the  social 
expert  in  their  work.  But  he  admitted  with  regret  that  there  was 
scarcely  to  be  found  a  book  on  sociology  that  would  afford  useful 
principles  for  their  guidance;  in  fact  that  the  study  of  society 
was  still  where  physics  and  chemistry  were  in  the  fifteenth  century. 

In  conclusion  some  outstanding  contributions  will  be  briefly 
summarized.     Ward's  emphasis  upon  the  vast  possibilities  which 

1  Dynamic  Sociology,  I,  p.  36. 


10  EDUCATION  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY 

lie  in  a  conscious  rational  direction  of  human  affairs,  upon  the 
superiority  of  conscious  over  unconscious  control  of  the  social 
process,  was  mentioned  as  a  striking  addition  to  the  history  of 
thought. 

That  education  is  the  main  agency  for  the  realization  of  social 
ideals  is  a  conception  which  of  course  does  not  begin  with  Lester 
F.  Ward.  It  is  at  least  as  old  as  Plato's  Kepublic.  It  was  asserted 
by  Turgot  in  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century.  But  none  have 
expounded  the  doctrine  with  more  ardent  mastery  than  Ward. 
Education  is  shown  to  be  man's  supreme  method  and  opportunity 
if  he  would  control  his  social  destiny.  Tie  therefore  struck  an  im- 
portant note  in  the  new  science  of  sociology.  If  education  is  the 
vital  factor  in  the  social  process,  as  Ward  maintained,  the  soci- 
ologists may  well  make  it  the  object  of  profound  consideration. 
The  researches  of  the  specialist  into  social  problems  and  processes 
contribute  greatly  to  defining  the  teacher's  work.  Their  aid  in  the 
development  of  scientific  education  will  be  immense.  And  Ward  is 
unquestionably  correct  in  his  thesis.  Our  optimism  concerning 
the  future  of  the  race  lies  wholly  in  education.  It  lies  in  fact  in 
the  successful  working  of  an  educational  scheme  far  more  compre- 
hensive than  any  thing  so  far  contemplated. 

ISTone  have  emphasized  more  than  Ward  the  latent  qualities 
of  human  nature  and  the  latent  abilities  of  the  masses.  While  in 
enlightened  countries  there  may  be  only  a  completely  "submerged 
tenth,"  he  says,  there  is  also  only  a  completely  emerged  tenth, 
and  there  is  no  valid  reason  why  the  other  partly  emerged 
eight-tenths  should  not  completely  emerge.  What  if  a  very  much 
larger  portion  of  the  material  means  of  the  world  were  applied  to 
develop  these  "unworked  mines"  of  society  ?  What  if  it  became  the 
main  interest  of  men  individually  and  collectively  to  elicit  the 
latent  qualities  of  all  human  minds  in  the  direction  of  a  common 
fund  of  good  ?  The  possible  results  are  dazzling  to  the  imagina- 
tion. The  conditions  imposed  upon  the  human  race  do  not  pre- 
clude the  attainment  of  an  ideal  order  of  society.  The  City  of 
God  may  be  realized  increasingly.  The  problem  is  that  of  elicit- 
ing the  latent,  and  of  organizing  it. 


EDUCATION  IN  KECENT  SOCIOLOGY  11 

II 

Charles  H.  Cooley. 

|imHnmiiaiiiniiiiitit|  q  understand  the  social  writings  of  Professor  Cooley 

I  it  is  important  at  the  outset  to  grasp  clearly  the 

I  organic  conception   of  mind.     Any  one  perceives 

I  without  difficulty  the  interworking  of  parts  in  a 

$]iiMiiiiiiiiaiiiiiiiiiiiicl  complex  machine,  or  understands  at  least  vaguely 

I                   I  the  reciprocal  action  of  organs  in  an  animal  body. 

I                   I  He    derives    thereby    an    elementary    meaning    of 

•i>3iiiuiiimiaHiiiiiiHiii>i>  i.'Qpgjjj^jg  "     -Qy^i  applied  to  mind  the  student  finds 

the  conception  harder  to  grasp.  "Mind,"  we  are  told,  in  the  open- 
ing sentence  of  Social  Organization,  "is  an  organic  whole,  made  up 
of  co-operating  individualities  in  somewhat  the  same  way  that 
the  music  of  an  orchestra  is  made  up  of  divergent  but  related 
sounds."  And  just  as  we  do  not  divide  the  music  of  individual 
instruments  from  that  of  the  whole,  so  we  cannot  divide  mind  into 
individual  and  social.  I  have  my  own  thoughts,  yes,  but  they 
have  flown  in  upon  me  from  many  sources,  from  ancestors,  from 
distant  sages,  from  associates  both  near  and  remote.  The  social 
mind  is  a  complex  the  parts  of  which  are  related  by  organization 
and  reciprocal  influences,  but  by  no  means  are  all  of  them  in 
agreement.  The  organization  is  evident  in  the  simplest  inter- 
course and  as  well  in  the  widest  and  most  complex  relations.  If 
one  cannot  see  this  organization,  says  Cooley,  a  definition  would 
be  useless. 

Any  one  who  observes  the  small  child  knows  how,  as  his  con- 
sciousness emerges,  he  identifies  himself  with  a  group.  He  thinks 
in  terms  of  "we,"  "our"  and  "us"  quite  as  early  as  he  thinks  of  his 
separate  self.  "Self  and  society  are  twin  born,  we  know  one  as 
immediately  as  we  know  the  other,  and  the  notion  of  a  separate 
and  independent  ego  is  an  illusion."  A  caution  is  necessary  at 
this  point.    When  the  average  person  thinks  of  society,  what  prob- 

Professor  Cooley  has  published  three  books,  Human  Nature  and  the 
Social  Order,  Social  Organization,  and  Social  Process,  which  supply  the 
data  for  this  study. 


12  EDUCATION  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY 

ably  comes  to  his  mind  is  an  aggregate  of  material  bodies,  and  the 
individual  is  one  of  these  bodies.  But  the  sociologist  means  some- 
thing very  different.  A  mere  aggregate  never  makes  a  society. 
It  would  be  ludicrous  to  speak  of  a  society  of  trees  in  the  forest. 
We  must  rid  ourselves  entirely  of  a  concept  of  society  as  an  aggre- 
gate of  bodies.  The  primary  condition  of  any  society  is  mental 
interaction.  Of  course,  an  aggregate  of  bodies  is  a  necessary  con- 
dition of  a  human  society,  but  that  is  not  what  constitutes  it  a 
society,  or  the  pebbles  on  the  shore  and  chickens  in  the  barnyard 
would  come  under  the  definition.  Society  always  means  a  group 
united  by  a  common  consciousness  and  by  reciprocal  mental  influ- 
ences, and  all  human  beings  who  comprise  a  group  are  so  united. 

The  types  of  consciousness  which  unite  a  group  are  well  shown 
by  Cooley  in  an  illustration.  He  takes  congenial  family  life  as 
an  example,  but  application  may  be  made  to  any  group  united  by 
common  interests.  There  is  first  a  public  consciousness  and  this 
includes  those  thoughts  and  feelings  which  hold  the  members  to- 
gether as  a  co-operative  group ;  secondly,  in  the  mind  of  each  per- 
son is  a  vivid  sense  of  the  personal  traits  and  modes  of  thought 
and  feeling  of  the  other  members;  and  again,  there  is  each  one's 
consciousness  of  himself,  which  is  largely  indeed  a  direct  reflec- 
tion of  the  ideas  about  himself  he  attributes  to  the  others,  and 
which  is  altogether  a  product  of  the  social  life.  It  is  evident 
then,  that  group  consciousness  is  a  combination  of  divergent  ele- 
ments held  together  in  a  more  or  less  unified  whole. 

The  school  group  furnishes  an  illustration  of  organized  mind. 
The  school  is  a  group  of  individuals  representing  similar  interests 
and  desires.  There  is  always  evident,  even  in  the  lowest  grade, 
a  public  consciousness,  comprising  ideas,  feelings  and  attitudes 
tending  to  group  solidarity  and  co-operation.  There  is  in  each 
member  a  growing  social  consciousness  as  he  enters  more  and  more 
into  the  concerns  and  the  understanding  of  others.  And  there  is 
likewise  a  developing  sense  of  himself,  and  this  sense  of  himself 
is  unquestionably,  as  Professor  Cooley  says,  a  reflection  of  the 
opinions  he  believes  others  to  hold  of  him.  The  analysis  of  indi- 
vidual and  group  mind  shows  the  members  of  a  group  to  be  part 


EDtrOATIOISr  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY  13 

and  parcel  of  eacli  other,  not  flesh  of  each  other's  flesh,  but  mind 
of  each  other's  mind.  This  description  applies  perfectly  to  the 
school.  There  are  usually,  of  course,  individuals  who  by  influ- 
ences of  heredity  or  of  other  group  memberships  (and  every  child 
is  presumed  to  be  a  member  of  at  least  a  family  group)  resist 
more  or  less  the  dominant  school  group  interests.  But,  as  said 
at  the  beginning,  the  group  organization  does  not  require  complete 
agreement;  it  does  imply  mental  interaction  and  reciprocal 
influences. 

The  reciprocal  influences  of  the  members  of  the  school  group 
upon  one  another  may  be  represented  by  the  diagrams  often  used 
in  psychology  text  books  illustrating  the  association  of  ideas. 
From  points  representing  ideas  and  images  lines  are  extended  to 
many  other  points,  back  and  forth  in  criss-cross  fashion.  From 
the  teacher  and  each  child  are  radiated  influences  to  all  other 
members  of  the  group.  It  v^^ould  not  be  over-fantastic  to  say  that 
a  group  of  growing  minds  is  like  an  association  of  stars,  each 
emitting  light  upon  the  others  and  all  illumined  in  a  common 
light  to  which  each  contributes.  There  is  this  striking  dif- 
ference, that,  without  the  others,  or  some  others,  each  mind  would 
remain  dark.  Eeflections  on  the  relations  of  the  individual  and 
the  group  mind  lead  one  to  think  that  perhaps  the  most  sig-nilicant 
factor  in  the  education  of  the  immature  person  in  school  is  the 
character  of  his  group  memberships. 

Cooley's  chapters  on  Primary  Groups  and  Ideals  have  become 
well  known.  The  meaning  of  a  primary  group  is  given  as  follows : 
"By  primary  groups  I  mean  those  characterized  by  intimate,  face- 
to-face  association  and  co-operation.  They  are  primary  in  sev- 
eral senses,  but  chiefly  in  that  they  are  fundamental  in  forming 
the  social  nature  and  ideals  of  the  individual.  The  result  of 
intimate  association,  psychologically,  is  a  certain  fusion  of  indi- 
vidualities in  a  common  whole,  so  that  one's  very  self,  for  many 
purposes  at  least,  is  the  common  life  and  purpose  of  the  group. 
Perhaps  the  simplest  way  of  describing  this  wholeness  is  by  say- 
ing it  is  a  'we.'  It  involves  the  sort  of  sympathy  and  mutual 
identification   for   which   'we'   is  the  natural   expression.      One 


14  EDUCATION  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY 

lives  in  the  feeling  of  the  whole  and  finds  the  chief  aims  of  his 
will  in  that  feeling."^  As  examples  of  the  'we'  gi'oups,  where  per- 
sons meet  in  face-to-face  association,  he  mentions  the  family,  the 
playground  and  neighborhood  groups,  the  gang,  the  village  com- 
munity, the  self-governing  Russian  mir. 

It  is  these  primary  groups  that  are  the  nurseries  of  human  na- 
ture. It  is  in  them  that  the  truly  human  qualities  are  acquired 
and  developed.  It  is  there,  too,  that  we  must  look  for  social  ideals. 
"Where  do  we  get  our  notions  of  love,  freedom,  justice,  and  the 
like,  which  we  are  ever  applying  to  our  social  institutions  ?  iiot 
from  abstract  philosophy,  surely,  but  from  actual  life  of  simple 
and  widespread  forms  of  society,  like  the  family  or  the  play-group. 
In  these  relations  mankind  realizes  itself,  gratifies  its  primary 
needs  in  a  fairly  satisfactory  manner,  and  from  the  experience 
forms  standards  of  what  it  is  to  expect  from  more  elaborate  asso- 
ciation."^ 

What  are  the  ideals  sought  in  attempts  to  realize  a  democratic 
state  ?  Such  things,  of  course,  as  equality  of  opportunity,  fair 
dealing,  fraternity,  justice,  fellow  feeling,  group  loyalty.  But 
these  are  qualities  of  human  nature  which  have  their  origin  in 
primary  groups  alone  And  as  ideals  of  democracy  they  are  kept 
stable  and  fresh  by  constant  renewal  in  the  hearts  of  the  people 
associated  in  these  groups.  Another  essential  of  democracy  is  the 
feeling  of  group  unity.  We  may  call  it  loyalty.  Royce  identified 
the  moral  life  with  loyalty.  And  Professor  Cooley  says,  "The 
ideal  of  moral  unity  I  take  to  be  the  mother,  as  it  were,  of  all 
social  ideals."  It  is  again  the  primary  groups  that  afford  the 
basis  for  loyalty.  He  who  has  learned  to  merge  his  personality 
in  the  concerns  of  his  immediate  groups  is  thereby  prepared  for 
loyalty  in  such  larger  associations  as  the  state  or  mankind. 

Social  ideals  and  habits  are  developed  in  the  school.  Certainly 
the  conditions  of  the  primary  group  surround  the  child  there.  He 
participates  in  a  common  life,  shares  a  common  consciousness,  and 
he  learns  to  adjust  himself  to  his  fellows.  Unfortunately,  the 
schools  do  not  use  their  opportunities  to  the  extent  they  might. 
Should  it  not  be  the  larger  purpose  of  the  school  to  elicit  feelings 

1  Social  Organization,  p.  23. 


EDUCATION  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY  15 

of  unity  and  loyalty  and  social  powers  and  virtues  ?  Cooley  states 
his  view  in  the  following  lines :  "The  merging  of  himself  in  the 
willing  service  of  a  greater  whole  raises  man  to  the  higher  function 
of  human  nature.  We  need  to  aim  at  this  in  all  phases  of  our 
life,  but  nowhere  is  it  easier  to  attain  or  more  fruitful  of  results 
than  in  connection  with  the  schools.  Since  the  school  environment 
is  comparatively  easy  to  control,  here  is  the  place  to  create  an  ideal 
formative  group,  or  system  of  groups,  which  shall  envelop  the 
individual  and  mould  his  growth,  a  model  society  by  assimilation 
to  which  he  may  become  fit  to  leaven  the  rest  of  life.  Here, 
if  anywhere,  we  can  insure  his  learning  loyalty,  discipline,  ser- 
vice, personal  address  and  democratic  co-operation,  all  by  willing 
practice  in  the  fellowship  of  his  contemporaries.  As  a  good 
family  is  an  ideal  world  in  miniature,  in  respect  of  love  and 
brotherhood,  so  the  school  and  playground  should  supply  such  a 
world  in  respect  of  self-discipline  and  social  organization.  There 
is  nothing  now  taking  place,  it  would  seem,  more  promising  of 
great  results  than  the  development  of  groups  which  appeal  to  the 
young  on  the  social  and  active  side  of  their  natures  and  evoke  a 
community  spirit."^  It  is  an  idea  of  Cooley  that  every  one  who 
has  attended  any  kind  of  school  should  have  an  alma  mater,  a 
place  of  learning  associated  with  friendship,  loyalty  and  ideals  of 
youth.  Common  schools  in  town  and  country  might  then  play  the 
part  in  the  life  of  the  masses  of  the  people  that  colleges  do  in  that 
of  the  privileged  class,  thereby  providing  many  more  continuous 
groups,  the  bearers  and  transmitters  of  a  high  social  spirit. 

Fellowship  in  the  school  group  is  the  most  potent  factor  in 
school  life.  The  accepted  notion  of  a  school  is  a  place  where  a 
group  of  students  master  the  studies  which  make  up  the  curricu- 
lum. While  learning  of  this  kind  is  essential,  is  not  the  more 
significant  factor  the  group  itself  and  the  relations  of  the  group 
members  to  one  another  ?  The  child  finds  himself  one  of  a  group 
of  persons,  and  through  contact  with  these,  including  the  teacher, 
his  personality  emerges.  The  two  things  following  are  given  by 
Cooley  as  indispensable  to  a  school:    "First,  an  intimate  relation 

1  Social  Process,  p.  72. 


16  EDUCATION  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY 

with  a  teacher  who  can  arouse  and  guide  the  child's  mental  life, 
and,  second,  a  good  group  spirit  among  the  children  themselves, 
in  which  he  may  share.  The  first  meets  the  need  we  all  have  in 
our  formative  years  for  a  friend  and  confidant  in  whom  we  also 
feel  wisdom  and  authority ;  and,  I  assume,  we  are  not  to  rely  upon 
the  child's  finding  such  at  home.  The  second,  equal  membership 
in  a  group  of  our  fellows,  develops  the  democratic  spirit  of  loyalty, 
service,  emulation,  and  discussion.  These  are  the  primary  con- 
ditions which  the  child  as  a  human  being  requires  for  the  growth 
of  his  human  nature ;  and  if  I  could  be  sure  of  them  I  should  not 
be  exacting  about  the  curriculum,  conceiving  the  harm  done  by 
mistakes  in  this  to  be  small  compared  with  that  resulting  from 
defect  in  the  social  basis  of  the  child's  life.  And  it  is  the  latter, 
it  seems  to  me,  which,  because  of  its  inward  and  spiritual  character, 
not  to  be  ascertained  or  tested  in  any  definite  way,  we  are  most 
likely  to  overlook."^ 

Success  and  failure  are  often  the  result  of  social  suggestion. 
It  is  the  reaction  upon  him  of  his  group,  including  the  teacher, 
that  determines  for  the  child  or  youth  his  conception  of  himself  as 
a  success  or  failure.  The  theory  of  teaching  might  profit  by 
incorporating  the  viewpoint  in  the  chapter  in  ''Social  Process" 
on  Degeneration  and  the  Will.  Success  is  a  habit,  so  is  failure. 
Often  each  is  entered  upon  accidentally.  One's  social  experience 
may  be  such  as  to  break  down  his  strength  of  will.  "The  process 
known  as  'losing  your  grip'  is  primarily  a  loss  of  self-respect  and 
self-confidence  due  to  a  series  of  failures.  Imagined  loss  of  the 
respect  of  others  enters  largely  into  it,  and  it  is  hastened  by  the 
inability  to  dress  well  and  to  keep  clean,  also  by  poor  food,  anxiety, 
loss  of  sleep  and  physical  deterioration."  On  the  other  hand, 
''The  habit  of  accomplishment,  and  that  alone,  gives  self-respect, 
hope,  and  courage  to  face  the  eyes  of  men.  The  disheartened  man 
is  no  man,  and  if  kept  disheartened  for  a  long  time  he  is  matter 
for  the  scrap-heap.  The  healthy  growth  of  the  will  requires  diffi- 
culty, to  be  sure,  and  even  failure,  but  only  such  failure  and  diffi- 

1  Social  Process,  p.  62. 


EDUCATION  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY  lY 

culty  as  can  be  and  are  overcome  in  a  sufficient  proportion  of  cases 
to  keep  confidence  alive." ^ 

The  will  may  take  a  degenerate  course.  We  need  to  guage  the 
abilities  of  people  individually  and  not  commit  the  error  of  hold- 
ing them  to  things  which  they  cnnnot  do.  The  average  man  can- 
not scramble  over  an  eight-foot  fence.  Our  typical  school  require- 
ments are  not  adapted  to  all  pupils.  "Fail  him  out,"  is  the  school's 
usual  disposition  of  the  unfit.  We  are  Social  Darwinists  in  prac- 
tice, if  not  in  theory.  American  colleges  have  pushed  thousands 
of  students  out  at  the  end  of  the  first  year  through  mal-adaptation 
to  the  foreign  language  requirements  alone.  Much  of  the  enor- 
mous elimination  all  along  the  educational  ladder  is  due  to  failure 
to  succeed,  a  failure  resulting  to  greater  or  less  degree  in  impaired 
will  and  self-respect.  It  is  not  contended  here  that  students  should 
never  be  "failed"  in  their  studies.  In  fact,  the  trial  and  error 
method  is  still  the  best  way  of  gauging  abilities.  But  failure 
should  not  be  accented.  The  school  should  endeavor  to  discover  the 
peculiar  abilities  of  each  pupil,  and  with  them  as  a  base,  start 
him  on  the  road  to  accomplishment.  Every  child  above  the  mental 
grade  of  imbecile  has  qualities  that  make  success  possible.  Among 
the  habits  to  be  acquired  in  the  formative  period  of  life,  why  not 
give  prominent  place  to  the  habit  of  success? 

Ward  found  in  happiness  the  aim  of  life.  Were  it  necessary 
to  answer  the  question  in  respect  to  Cooley's  philosophy,  an  answer 
would  be  found  in  self-expression.  "The  main  need  of  men  is 
life,  self-expression,  not  luxury ;  and  if  self-expression  can  be  made 
general,  inequalities  alone  will  excite  but  little  resentment."  In 
fact,  the  ideal  of  human  equality  may  be  defined  as  a  condition 
in  which  every  one  has,  in  one  way  or  another,  a  suitable  field  of 
growth  and  self-expression.  Every  one  has  a  desire,  perhaps 
latent,  to  be  something,  to  express  an  individuality.  "This  is  only 
human  nature  and  one  way  of  stating  nearly  all  our  social  troubles 
is  to  say  that  individuality  has  not  been  properly  understood  and 
evoked,  has  not  had  the  right  sort  of  opportunity.  To  find  a  re- 
sponse in  life,  to  discover  that  which  is  most  inwardly  you,  is 

1  Rocial  Process,  p.  173. 


18  EDUCATION  IN  KECENT  SOCIOLOGY 

wanted  also  iii  the  world  without,  that  you  can  serve  others  in 
realizing  yourself ;  this  is  what  makes  resolute  and  self-respecting 
men  and  women  of  us,  and  what  the  school  ought  unfailingly  to 
afford.  The  people  who  drift  and  sag  are  those  who  have  never 
'found  themselves,'  "^  The  art  ideal,  we  are  told,  is  one  of  joy- 
ous self-expression.  He  whose  life  expresses  his  individuality  lives 
in  the  spirit  of  the  artist.  While  most  of  us  are  obliged  to  seek 
free  play  of  individuality  outside  of  working  hours,  there  should 
be  something  of  self-expression  and  the  spirit  of  art  in  all  work. 
And  in  other  phases  of  life,  too.  Democracy  itself  is  an  art 
wherein  the  common  man  finds  expression  in  a  varied,  intelligent, 
and  joyous  participation  in  the  community  life. 

The  following  passage  defines  in  a  striking  manner  the  function 
and  true  spirit  of  a  university.  It  is  also  an  illustration  of  Cooley's 
delightful  literary  style.  "When  I  am  raking  and  burning  leaves, 
as  I  have  to  in  the  fall  and  spring,  I  often  light  one  little  pile, 
and,  when  it  is  well  afire,  I  pick  from  it  a  burning  leaf  or  two 
on  my  rake  and  carry  them  to  the  next  pile,  which  thus  catches 
their  flame.  It  seems  to  me  that  this  is  what  a  university  should 
do  for  the  higher  life  of  our  people.  It  should  be  on  fire,  and  each 
student  who  goes  out  should  be  a  burning  leaf  to  start  the  flame 
in  the  community  where  he  goes."^ 

As  we  have  seen,  an  organic  conception  of  things  is  central  in 
Professor  Cooley's  social  philosophy.  "It  is  the  aim  of  the  organic 
view  to  'see  things  whole,'  or  at  least  as  largely  as  our  limitations 
permit."  The  significance  of  the  organic  view  is  brought  out  best 
by  comparison  with  the  types  of  particularism  which  have  domi- 
nated men's  minds.  A  particularism  is  a  partial  view  which  is 
mistaken  for  the  whole;  it  is  some  one  phase  of  the  process  which 
is  held  to  be  supreme  and  to  which  all  others  are  subsidiary.  There 
is  no  better  illustration  than  the  economic  interpretation  of  his- 
tory, a  view  natural  to  those  who  see  through  the  economic  window 
only.  While  the  true  specialist  sees  beyond  his  own  field,  never- 
theless, increase  in  specialization  has  emphasizd  particularistic 
views.     "It  should  be  the  outcome  of  the  organic  view  that  we 

1  Social  Process  p  61. 

2  Ibid,  p.  392. 


EDUCATION  IN  KECENT  SOCIOLOGY  19 

embrace  specialty  with  ardor,  and  yet  recognize  that  it  is  partial 
and  tentative,  needing  from  time  to  time  to  be  reabsorbed  and 
reborn  of  the  whole.  The  Babel  of  conflicting  particularisms  re- 
sembles the  condition  of  religious  doctrine  a  century  ago,  when 
every  one  took  it  for  granted  that  there  could  be  but  one  true 
form  of  belief,  and  there  were  dozens  of  antagonistic  systems 
claiming  to  be  this  form.  The  organic  conception,  in  any  sphere, 
requires  that  we  pursue  our  differences  in  the  sense  of  a  larger 
unity."^ 

Education  has  been  a  field  of  conflicting  particularisms.  There 
have  been  conflicts  of  the  practical  and  the  cultural,  the  narrowly 
technical  and  the  liberal,  the  egoistic  and  the  social,  drill  and 
reason,  interest  and  effort,  routine  and  initiative,  the  child  and 
the  curriculum.  In  the  organic  view  these  are  not  antagonistic  but 
complementary.  The  ideal,  prevalent  among  educational  leaders 
today,  of  subjecting  all  school  processes  to  quantitative  measure- 
ment, takes  on  the  character  of  a  particularism  by  over  emphasis. 
While  the  measurement  movement  adds  materially  to  the  efliciency 
of  prevailing  practices,  it  contributes  little  or  nothing  to  the  more 
baffling  problem  of  underlying  purposes  and  aims. 

A  partial  summary  of  the  foregoing  may  be  given  as  follows. 
Only  the  organic  view  of  mind  gives  us  a  correct  idea  of  the  rela- 
tion between  the  individual  and  his  group.  The  individual  is  an 
organic  part  of  his  group;  he  is  determined  by  it,  but  he  also 
determines  it;  hence  each  is  the  determinant  of  the  other.  Of 
course,  the  individual  is  not  wholly  determined  by  any  one  group ; 
he  may  be,  and  usually  is,  a  member  of  many,  including  ideal 
groups,  the  latter  being  products  of  his  imagination.  He  is  re- 
lated to  the  groups  in  a  contributory  way,  as  he  is  also  a  resultant 
of  influences  from  them.  We  are  the  most  influenced,  especially 
in  the  years  of  plastic  childhood  and  youth,  by  stimuli  from  the 
immediate  environment;  so  the  family,  playground  and  school 
groups  are  the  main  determinants  of  the  child's  growing  person- 
ality. The  school  affords  unique  opportunity  for  the  formation 
of  an  ideal  group  in  which  the  child  may  learn  to  live,  to  con- 

1  Social  Process,  p.  4». 


20  EDUCATION  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY 

tribute,  and  to  adapt  himself,  and  the  habits  freely  formed  by 
this  adaptation  tend  to  create  an  ideal  world  group.  Evidently 
the  group  relation  itself  is  the  essential  factor  in  school  life.  The 
school  is  a  primary  group  where  persons  live  together  in  a  common 
consciousness  of  interests  and  aims.  It  is,  therefore,  the  oppor- 
tune place  for  the  development  of  feelings  of  loyalty  and  unity, 
and  likewise  of  those  sentiments  and  ideals  of  justice  and  frater- 
nity which  are  basal  in  a  democratic  state. 


EDUCATION  IN  EECENT  SOClOLOaT  21 

III. 

ARTHUR  J.  TODD. 

The  data  for  this  study  are  supplied  mainly  by  Professor  Todd's 
"Theories  of  Social  Progress."  He  published  an  earlier  work, 
"The  Primitive  Family  as  an  Educational  Agency,"  and  a  recent 
one,  "The  Scientific  Spirit  and  Social  Work."  The  first  men- 
tioned is  the  most  important  of  the  three  to  social  and  educational 
theory. 

|iiiiiiiiiaiiaiiiMumi«|  jj^-p  jg  gQcial  progress  ?    How  do  we  know  when  we 

I     ¥T[y    I    are  progressing?     How  shall  we  judge  of  an  event 

I      W     I    or  social  change  to  determine  whether  it  makes  for 

I  I   progress  or  not  ?  Surely  there  must  be  standards  or 

^iimiiiHiiiciiiinirniiici^   criteria  to  guide  us.     Many  theories  of  progress 

I  I   have  been  advanced,  most  of  them  narrow  and  par- 

1  =   ticularistic.    What  are  the  means  of  securing  social 

HK]iiiiiniiiiiaiiiiiiiiiiii(4>  ■,   ^  r       •  11, 

progress,  and  how  far  is  progress  dependent  upon 

rational  human  effort?     The  researches  of  the  sociologist  supply 

answers  to  these  questions. 

Progress  is  recognized  at  once  to  be  a  complex,  therefore  not  to 

be  interpreted  in  any  one  set  of  factors.     Although  difficult  to 

make,  a  definition  is  necessary,  and  the  definition  is  reached  by 

negative  steps.     Population  is  hardly  a  criterion  of  progress;  a 

good  type,  rather  than  a  large  population,  is  the  ideal  of  civilized 

people.     Health  and  increasing  longevity  contribute  to  social  well 

being,  but  they  afford  no  standard  of  permanent  progress.     The 

wealth  of  a  country  is  no  test  of  progress  until  we  see  what  this 

means  in  the  life  of  the  average  man.    Even  improvement  in  morals 

is  no  clear  test  of  progress,  because  of  the  confusion  of  ethical 

standards. 


22  EDUCATION  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY 

It  is  not  easy  to  do  justice  to  a  lengthy  argument  in  a  few  sen- 
tences. The  following,  however,  indicates  Todd's  view  point 
It  is  not  in  mere  change,  nor  in  evolution,  nor  in  achievement,  that 
progress  is  to  be  found.  These  become  progress  only  when  meas- 
ured in  terms  of  human  welfare.  And  what  is  human  welfare? 
Evidently  a  diamond  with  many  facets.  Among  the  well  marked 
indices  of  progress  we  find  "a  higher  level  of  material  wants  and 
means  of  satisfying  them;  an  expansion  of  the  numbers  of  men, 
their  energies  and  their  contacts;  greater  emphasis  upon  intellec- 
tual values;  wider  participation  in  all  material  and  intellectual 
gains;  therefore,  wider  concepts  of  truth,  greater  liberty,  greater 
order,  and  finally  greater  solidarity;  for  we  are  freest  when  love 
and  intelligence  constrain  us  to  identify  ourselves  with  our  fel- 
lows. The  humanitarian  gain  should  express  itself  in  the  grow- 
ing sentiment  against  war  and  slavery,  in  the  conservation  of 
infant  and  adult  life,  prevention  of  such  diseases  as  tuberculosis, 
syphilis,  and  typhoid;  in  the  desuetude  of  corporal  and  capital 
punishment;  in  fact,  in  the  radical  change  of  front  in  our  whole 
penal  machinery  from  retribution  and  terror  to  reformation  and 
prevention.  Institutional  progress  seems  to  be  indicated  by  a 
general  trend  from  force  to  rational  persuasion.  You  may  trace 
this  movement  in  government,  in  education,  in  religion,  in  the 
family.  Industrial  progress  should  mean  more  real  needs  of  more 
people  more  adequately  satisfied,  with  a  surplus  for  further  devel- 
opment. Educational  progress  should  mean  generalizing  social 
achievement,  increasing  self-control,  and  decreasing  social  control 
by  repression."' 

Progress,  then,  includes  many  things,  all  centering  in  human 
well  being.  It  involves  a  complex  of  material,  intellectual,  and 
institutional  elements  flowering  in  a  moral  order  of  humanity. 
But  progress,  we  are  reminded,  is  not  written  into  the  nature  of 
things;  it  comes,  if  at  all,  only  as  the  fruitage  of  conscious  and 
persistent  human  effort. 

Progress  is  concerned  with  human  well  being.     The  human 

1  Theories  of  Social  Progress,  p.  118. 


EDUCATION  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY  23 

individual  is  the  center  of  the  problem.  Evidently  there  can  be 
no  intelligent  theory  of  social  progress  which  fails  to  recognize 
the  essential  attributes  of  human  nature.  What  are  these  essen- 
tial attributes?  Is  human  nature  of  one  element  or  many?  Is 
it  static  or  dynamic,  rigid  in  form  or  capable  of  ready  change  ? 
Is  it  narrowly  determined  or  expansive  in  variety  and  possibility  ? 
Defenders  of  existing  social  systems  have  commonly  opposed  inno- 
vations as  contrary  to  human  nature,  and  in  addition  they  have 
alleged  that  human  nature  does  not  change.  This  view  is  rejected 
by  Todd  as  ignorance  and  willful  cant.  "We  hold  that  human 
nature  is  indefinitely,  yes,  infinitely  modifiable.  We  assert  that 
it  is  not  a  fixed  quantity  or  quality  given  in  toto  once  and  for  all. 
Men  who  argue  for  this  fixity  usually  have  some  ulterior  motive 
or  delude  themselves.  Such  a  concept  of  human  nature  is  flung  at 
us  or  piled  up  into  a  barricade  to  obstruct  essential  reforms,  where 
reform  means  the  loss  of  some  opportunity  to  exploit.  .  .  .  But 
the  very  crudest  view  of  evolution  must  a  priori  admit  that  human 
character  is  plastic  and  potentially  progressive.  .  .  .  The  true 
evolutionist  must  believe  that  neither  human  nature  nor  man's 
environment  is  a  given  fixed  quantity.  .  .  .  Both  are  dynamic. 
Man,  and  his  environment  along  with  him,  are  evolving.  And 
this  process  of  'creative  evolution'  is  the  true  order  of  nature."^ 

The  above  sentences  are  the  key  to  the  situation.  They  fur- 
nish the  ground  for  optimism  and  suggest  a  way  of  procedure. 
Human  nature  is  essentially  active,  it  abounds  in  variety  and  pos- 
sibility. It  is  in  the  latencies  of  human  nature,  in  the  plastic 
character  of  man  and  his  environment,  and  in  his  power  of  adap- 
tation, that  we  are  to  find  the  materials  for  the  construction  of 
the  social  edifice. 

Social  theory  must  rest  upon  an  estimation  of  the  human  indi- 
vidual. If  we  wish  to  know  what  new  types  of  political,  economic 
and  social  organization  are  possible,  we  must,  in  order  to  answer 
this  question,  examine  more  carefully  into  human  nature  and  how 
it  develops.     Upon  analysis,  the  factor  of  central  significance  iu 

1  Ibid 


24  EDUCATION  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGt 

human  nature  is  found  to  be  the  "concept  of  self."  "This  is  the 
common  center  for  self-regarding  or  altruistic  motives  or  senti- 
ments. It  is  the  core  of  human  life.  What  makes  a  man  or  what 
determines  his  conduct,  if  it  is  not  what  he  thinks  of  himself, 
or  what  others  think  of  him,  or  what  he  thinks  others  might  think 
of  him,  that  is  of  his  self?  .  .  .  We  must  insist  sharply  that  our 
problem  is  the  nature  of  the  self.  .  .  .  That  it  is  of  tremendous 
practical  interest  will  appear  if  we  but  suggest  that  on  the  proper 
interpretation  of  self  and  self-building  depends  the  working  out  of 
such  social  problems  as  the  moral  imbecile,  the  criminal,  the 
apartment  house,  the  ownership  of  houses  of  prostitution,  the 
rich  malefactor,  eugenics,  municipal  socialism  or  semi-socialism, 
industrial  peace,  co-operative  production."^ 

The  above  statement  is  given  at  length,  because  the  view  is 
fundamental  to  the  whole  discussion.  Human  nature  is  rich  in 
possibilities.  Human  nature  is  modifiable,  and  therefore  adapt- 
able to  new  conditions.  Its  modifiability  is  not  like  that  of  inert 
clay  in  the  hands  of  the  modeler.  The  changes  are  mainly  in  the 
self,  in  the  concept  of  oneself  as  a  person.  One  acquires  new 
views  of  himself;  he  gets  confidence  in  his  expanding  powers,  new 
determinations;  he  establishes  personal  ideals  and  judges  his 
conduct  with  reference  to  them ;  he  resents  actions  either  of  him- 
self or  others  which  violate  his  self-esteem.  In  a  wholly  literal 
sense  he  identifies  himself  more  and  more  with  other  persons, 
movements  and  causes,  feeling  himself  one  with  them ;  his  concept 
of  self  expands  so  as  to  include  them.  By  consciousness  of  new 
powers  and  masteries,  by  new  contacts  and  loyalties,  his  sense  of 
self  grows.     Such  is  the  manner  of  self-building. 

Any  metaphysical  consideration  of  the  self  is  rigorously  excluded 
from  the  argument.  The  discussion  is  kept  on  an  objective  plane. 
The  self  is  made  up  of  experienced  elements.  It  is  evident  that 
the  child  begins  life  with  no  concept  of  himself ;  it  is  attained 
gradually  and  grows  with  the  increase  and  unification  of  experi- 
ence. The  fact  that  a  man  is  a  succession  of  varying  selves  is, 
of  course,  not  new.     The  idea  is  presented  in  some  detail  in  the 

1  Theories  of  Social  Progress,  p.  6. 


EDUCATION  IN  KECENT  SOCIOLOGY  25 

first  volume  of  James'  Principles  of  Psychology.  It  is  the  basis 
of  Baldwin's  dialectic  of  personal  growth.  But  no  one  has  pre- 
sented so  lucidly  as  Professor  Todd  the  possibilities  of  this  funda- 
mental view  of  human  nature  for  social  progress. 

Growth  in  the  sense  of  self  results  from  social  stimuli.  To  a 
great  extent  we  are  the  makers  of  one  another.  The  self  is  a  social 
product.  While  the  mind  of  the  new-born  child  is  not  a  tabula 
rasa,  still  the  little  that  is  written  thereon  is  fragmentary  and 
indistinct.  It  is  his  social  heredity  that  brings  it  out.  The  child 
has  a  great  variety  of  potential  selves.  Which  of  these  are  to  be 
dominant  ones,  what  are  to  be  his  permanent  habits,  attitudes,  and 
modes  of  thought,  is  determined  almost  wholly  by  the  social 
heredity.  Influences  affecting  the  child's  growth  come  almost 
entirely  from  other  persons,  because  it  is  pre-eminently  the  expe- 
rience of  others  which  furnish  the  material  for  his  world.  He 
lives  in  a  world  of  persons  and  only  incidentally  of  things.  His 
growth  is  determined  by  suggestions  which  emanate  from  other 
persons,  and  these  suggestions  cause  him  to  constantly  modify  his 
sense  of  himself.  "We  learn  to  know  ourselves  first  of  all  in  the 
mirror  of  the  world." 

Of  the  many  potential  personalities  of  the  growing  child,  what 
determines  which  shall  become  actual  ?  The  answer  can  only  be, 
social  suggestion  and  elicitation.  And  these  may  be  good  or  bad. 
While  the  child  brings  with  him  no  "vision  splendid,"  as  Words- 
w^orth  poetizes,  he  may  attain  a  vision  and  an  experience  of  life 
that  is  splendid.  On  the  other  hand,  it  may  be  cramped  and 
sordid.  "For  the  child  of  fortunate  parents  this  vision  is  ordin- 
arily one  of  a  world  of  plenty,  a  world  of  love,  devotion,  service, 
justice,  co-operation.  Unfortunately,  to  the  child  of  the  slum,  the 
child  laborer,  the  child  of  vicious  or  ignoble  parents,  comes  a 
vision  vastly  different,  of  a  world  of  misery,  squalor,  fatigue  and 
pain.  The  first  child  has  been  surrounded  with  comfort,  care, 
loving  discipline,  opportunities  for  education ;  has  been  trained 
to  love  and  to  serve.    What  shatters  his  romance  world,  his  para- 


26  EDUCATION  IN  KECENT  SOCIOLOGY 

dise  of  love  and  service  ?  What  disintegrates  his  sense  of  himself 
as  a  server,  as  just,  kindly,  chivalrous  ?  Simply  the  rude  impact 
with  other  youths  and  men  whose  dominant  idea,  and  therefore 
whose  predominant  "self,"  is  that  of  exploiting,  shirking,  getting 
something  for  nothing,  success  at  any  price,  brute  competition  for 
existence.  He  is  dashed  upon  the  rocks  of  a  false  philosophy  of 
egoism,  which  sets  man  against  man  as  mutually  exclusive  and 
fundamentally  locked  in  a  death  struggle  for  existence."^ 

Some  may  argue  that  the  point  of  view  maintained  here  over- 
emphasizes environmental  influences  to  the  neglect  of  heredity  as 
a  factor  in  human  character.  To  this  we  may  reply:  "That  phy- 
sical and  mental  elements  have  so  combined  to  give  the  child  be- 
fore birth  a  certain  mental  'set'  or  temperament,  we  may  assume 
as  likely.  But  in  the  same  breath  we  must  assume,  too,  that  this 
set  or  temperament  may  be,  and  a  thousand  to  one  will  be,  over- 
borne and  modified  by  his  social  environment.  Social  suggestion 
and  habit  (which  Dr.  Jordan  calls  the  'higher  heredity')  will  dis- 
solve hereditary  granite.  Heredity  is  its  own  undoing.  For 
while  transmitting  'characters'  it  transmits  also  the  impetus  by 
which  the  characters  are  modified  or  annulled."^ 

What  is  the  socially  valuable  type  of  self?  The  self  is  a  prod- 
uct of  the  social  environment,  in  other  words,  of  education.  What 
is  the  type  of  personality  which  contributes  to  progress?  We 
found  that  progress  implied  increasing  attention  to  human  well 
being.  Also  that  progress  may  be  expected  only  as  the  result  of 
human  effort  expended  in  a  conscious  and  rational  manner.  If 
there  is  to  be  progress  we  need  to  produce  a  type  of  person  whose 
intelligent  interest  is  centered  in  human  well  being  and  advance. 
An  effect  contrary  to  this  was  produced  by  much  of  our  nineteenth 
century  public  school  education,  because  it  was  individualistic 
in  character,  aimed  at  personal  success,  and  was  the  expression 
of  an  egotistical  political  philosophy.  The  Macnamara  man- 
killers  in  California  are  mentioned  as  an  example  of  the  fruits  of 
this  kind  of  education.     Our  education  must  produce  a  new  type 

1  Theories  of  Social  Progress,  p.  40. 

2  Ibid  p.  54. 


EDUCATION  IN  KECENT  SOCIOLOGY  27 

of  person,  one  imbued  from  the  earliest  years  with  thoughts,  feel- 
ings and  attitudes  that  make  for  service,  a  person  trained  in  the 
belief  that  the  good  of  himself  and  his  fellows  are  one,  and  that 
in  serving  all  he  serves  himself.  "The  method,  so  far  as  it  can 
be  compressed  into  a  single  phrase,  must  be  to  develop  in  the 
child's  mind  the  dominating  thought  of  himself  as  a  contributing 
personality  and  to  project  this  dominant  concept  upon  the  plane 
of  imagination."^  The  prevalence  in  society  of  the  contributing 
type  of  personality  is  the  essential  condition  of  progress,  a  condi- 
tion to  be  reached  by  means  of  social  education.  Social  educa- 
tion is  the  basis  of  Professor  Todd's  theory  of  progress.  It  will 
therefore  be  defined  more  fully  in  a  later  paragraph. 

Every  sociologist  recognizes  the  paramount  place  of  public 
opinion  as  a  factor  in  social  advance.  But  it  must  be  real  opinion, 
says  Todd,  which  means  that  it  must  proceed  from  earnest  thought 
applied  to  problems.  The  weakness  of  public  opinion  as  a  social 
force  is  due  to  prevailing  ignorance.  Can  a  nation  that  bases 
its  political  life  on  an  average  sixth  grade  elementary  school  educa- 
tion expect  much  sober,  mature  opinion?  Two  agencies  are  sug- 
gested for  creating  sound  public  opinion,  the  press  and  the  school. 
Unfortunately,  the  average  newspaper,  run  as  a  commercial  ven- 
ture, is  biased.  The  school  is  the  main  hope  for  educating  public 
opinion.  From  the  first  grade  through  the  college  every  student 
must  be  taught  "to  criticize,  to  evaluate,  to  solve  problems  for 
himself,  that  is  to  develop  the  self-winding  capacity."  What  is 
urged,  then,  is  a  method  for  training  the  critical  judgment.  If, 
in  addition,  the  curricula  are  freighted  with  materials  that  lead 
the  youth  to  think  in  community  terms,  we  may  expect  the  devel- 
opment of  a  real  public  opinion  instead  of  the  emotional  outbursts, 
prejudices,   and  outworn  dogmas  which  masquerade  under  that 

name.^ 

"Various  interpretations  of  history  have  been  advanced.  Is  the 
most  satisfactory  explanation  of  historical  events  and  sequences 
to  be  found  in  an  educational  interpretation?     The  greater  por- 

1  Ibid,  p.  79. 

2  See  chapter  on  Public  Opinion,  Tbeoriea  of  Social  Progress. 


28  EDUCATION  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY 

tion  of  the  volume,  "Theories  of  Social  Progress,"  is  given  to  con- 
sideration of  theories  and  explanations  of  progress  put  forward 
by  a  great  variety  of  thinkers  and  writers  who  are  referred  to  as 
the  "Prophets  of  Progress."  Consideration  is  given  also  to  the 
materialistic,  biological,  institutional  and  ideological  factors  on 
which  such  theories  have  their  foundation.  To  be  explicit,  what 
bearings  on  progress  have  the  following:  geography,  inventions, 
money,  capital,  division  of  labor,  industry,  natural  selection, 
eugenics,  racial  types,  war,  migrations,  property,  government  and 
law,  public  opinion,  religion,  etc.  The  limitations  of  this  article 
preclude  the  discussion  of  this  material.  Allusion  will  be  made 
only  to  a  trend  of  thought  in  evidence  throughout  the  discussion 
which  suggests  the  idea  of  an  educational  interpretation  of  his- 
tory. In  other  words,  are  changes  in  racial  history  due  mainly 
to  change  and  grovrth  in  sentiments,  ideas  and  standards,  factors 
subject  to  educational  influence?  Three  brief  references  will 
suffice  to  indicate  this  trend. 

In  answering  the  claims  of  the  selectionists  and  social  Dar- 
winists we  read :  "I  believe  that  in  the  task  of  creating  humanity 
through  checking  natural  selection,  more  has  been  allotted  to  the 
sentiments  than  to  any  other  element  in  human  nature.  .  .  . 
Human  progress  is  a  struggle  of  intelligence  and  selection  of  ideas. 
The  battle  may  not  be  to  the  strong  but  to  the  persistent,  not  to 
the  heavy  brain  but  to  the  agile  mind."^  While  not  always  so 
recognized,  says  Todd,  education  is  fundamental  to  the  whole 
progress  of  social  selection.  And  again,  in  commenting  on  the 
claim  sometimes  made  that  tools  and  inventions  indicate  the  main 
avenue  of  progress,  attention  is  called  to  the  fact  that  an  inven- 
tion is  useless  unless  the  group  is  sufficiently  intelligent  to  accept 
and  use  it.  In  fact,  the  success  of  both  material  and  institutional 
inventions  depends  wholly  upon  the  power  of  intellectual  adapta- 
tion which  is  typical  of  the  group.  Moreover,  the  invention  "con- 
tributes to  progress  only  if  accompanied  by  such  a  corresponding 
gain  in  intellectual  and  moral  vision  that  its  services  may  be  made 

1  Tbeoriea  of  Social  Progress,  p.  246. 


EDUCATlOlSr  TN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY  20 

to  overbalance  its  social  costs."^     Evidently  such  a  corresponding 
gain  did  not  accompany  the  Krupp  gun  in  Germany. 

For  a  third  reference,  we  take  the  industrial  revolution  in 
Europe.  It  is  traced  to  two  factors,  the  rise  of  state  solidarity 
and  the  growth  of  trade  in  England  and  France  during  the  six- 
teenth and  seventeenth  centuries.  "And  both  were  based  on  educa- 
tion. It  was  precisely  during  this  period,  from  the  fifteenth  to  the 
nineteenth  century,  that  printing,  literature,  schools,  and  secular 
as  well  as  religious  propaganda  created  unified  bodies  of  thought, 
public  opinion,  real  organic  social  unities."^  Many  other  illustra- 
tions could  be  given  suggesting  what  I  have  called  an  educational 
interpretation  of  history. 

After  an  exhaustive  enquiry  into  the  means  of  human  progress, 
we  find  that  the  answer  to  the  problem  lies  in  an  adequate  organ- 
ization of  social  education.  IN'othing  else  can  take  the  place  of 
this.  It  is  important  that  we  know  what  social  education  is. 
Todd's  definition  of  the  term  is  given  in  part  as  follows :  It  is  not 
"synonymous  with  a  sociological  curriculum,  nor  with  economic 
or  industrial  training ;  nor  with  'cultural'  or  'practical'  education ; 
nor  with  school  subjects  (for  no  one  subject  is  inherently  more 
'social'  than  any  other)  ;  nor  for  that  matter  with  any  sort  of 
mere  learning  as  such.  Nor  is  it  tantamount  to  ethical  culture, 
unless  we  mean  social  morality  or  conduct  in  its  widest  sense.  .  .  . 
On  the  other  hand,  it  does  involve  recognition  that  the  individual 
is  ineluctably  social ;  that  social  mal-adjustment  hinders  individual 
adjustment;  that  therefore  social  education  must  aim  to  prevent 
social  waste  and  to  develop  social  capital  in  men  and  goods.  More- 
over, it  means  that  its  business  is  to  create  a  favorable  atmosphere 
rather  than  precise  solutions  of  social  problems,  to  create  in  all 
of  us  social  intelligence,  power,  efficiency  and  interests.  It  recog- 
nizes the  school  as  a  definite  field  of  social  relationships,  where 
social  tools  are  forged  for  future  social  situations,  an  institution 
which,  however,  scarcely  so  much  fits  for  society,  as  really  is 
society — a  co-operative  and  democratic  society.     In  short,  social 

1  Theories  of  Social  ProgresB,  184. 

2  Ibid,  p.  220. 


30  EDUCATION  IN  EECENT  SOCIOLOGY 

education  means  conscious  and  definite  training  for  certain  spe- 
cific types  of  social  relationship.  Social  education  for  social  prog- 
ress, then,  would  use  as  means  and  end  those  types  of  social  value 
and  relationship  which  appear  most  likely  to  contribute  to  progress. 
Rightly  conceived,  it  is  a  highly  conscious  instrument  for  select- 
ing contributive  rather  than  adaptive  or  dependent  social  types. 
Hence  it  must  be  universal  and  stand  for  generalizing  opportunity, 
for  distributing  the  products  of  human  achievement  in  material 
goods  and  knowledge,  and  for  a  friendly,  voluntary  type  of  asso- 
ciation in  place  of  a  coercive,  exploitative  relationship.  In  a  word, 
social  education  aims  to  create  social  solidarity  hy  means  of  a  social 
type  marked  by  service  rather  than  exploitation."'^ 

It  is  not  easy  to  condense  into  a  single  formula  the  goal  of 
human  progress.  But  the  following  brief  definition  of  progress 
is  suggested.  "It  is  the  identification  of  personal  interest  with 
social  interest  to  an  increasing  degree."  Such  harmony  will  not 
come  at  one  swoop.  It  can  come  only  as  the  fruit  of  continued 
human  effort.  Humanity  cannot  dodge  the  final  responsibility 
for  its  fate.  Man  must  work  out  his  own  salvation.  Will  he 
succeed  ?  If  he  does,  it  will  be  by  means  of  an  increasing  educa- 
tional vision,  and  let  us  add,  through  the  leadership  of  a  force 
of  consecrated  educators.  "Let  education  become  dynamic,  let  it 
thrill  with  a  vision  of  becoming  the  chariot  horses  and  the  chariot 
in  which  society  shall  urge  itself  forward  to  a  better  day,  and 
men  and  women  of  first  rank  will  arise  and  consecrate  themselves 
to  making  the  vision  full  reality.  "Without  that  vision  'educational 
measurements,'  movements  to  increase  'school  efficiency,'  reforms 
of  curricula,  'child  study,'  are  but  the  clattering  of  machinery 
grinding  chaff;  with  it  they  become  the  tools  for  generating  the 
self-criticism  and  creative  energies  essential  to  the  process  of  pro- 
ducing an  environment  in  which  Social  Man  can  flourish  and  rise 
higher  and  higher  above  Man  the  Clod."- 

This  article  is  not  intended  as  a  book  review.  If  it  were,  it 
would  be  necessary  to  give  more  attention  to  the  author's  detailed 

1    Theories  of  Social  Progreis,  p.  621. 
3  Ibid 


EDtrCATION  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY  31 

exposition  and  criticism  of  many  historic  theories  of  progress. 
We  are  interested  rather  in  the  educational  significance  of  Pro- 
fessor Todd's  sociology.  Certain  concepts  and  theses  have  stood 
out  as  important  for  us.  The  argument  may  be  briefly  summar- 
ized as  follows.  We  are  interested  in  social  progress  and  in  how 
to  be  progressive.  We  find  progress  to  be  a  complex  of  many 
factors,  material,  intellectual  and  moral,  all  centering  about  human 
well  being  as  their  aim.  As  a  prerequisite  to  the  solution  of  any 
social  problem  it  is  necessary  to  have  a  true  conception  of  human 
nature.  On  it  the  character  of  any  reform  depends.  Fortunately 
human  nature  is  plastic  and  adaptable.  It  is  rich  in  variety  and 
possibility.  Which  of  the  many  possible  'selves'  will  become 
habitually  dominant?  We  found  the  'self  to  be  largely  a  social 
product,  a  reaction  to  stimulation  from  the  social  environment. 
Wholesome  human  character  can  therefore  be  developed  by  pro- 
viding the  right  kind  of  social  environment.  Social  progress  re- 
quires a  type  of  personality  whose  dominant  interest  centers  in 
the  social  service  ideal,  a  type  which  is  contributive  and  not 
exploitative  nor  merely  adaptive.  Only  an  adequate  system 
of  social  education  can  produce  a  citizenry  of  the  contributive 
type.  Social  education  is  therefore  the  fundamental  method  of 
progress. 


32  EDUCATION  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY 


IV. 


**  CHARLES  A.  ELL  WOOD. 

p»" °"'"""'«f  IIOFESSOR  ELLWOOD  writes  from  the  view-point 

I  w^  I  of  social  psychology.  He  would  prefer  to  call  it 
I  r^  I  jjsycho,  or  psychological  sociology,  but  social  psy- 
I  I    chology  has  become  the  accepted  term.    It  is  a  study 

^liiiiimiiiiDitiHiHiiiid  of  human  relationships  in  mental  terms.  The  mem- 
I  I   bers  of  a  society  are  related  in  inter-subjective  ways. 

I  I    When  two  or  more  persons  make  up  a  society,  what 

is  sigmncant  is  the  relation  between  their  minds. 
The  social  life  is  essentially  psychic,  and  sociology  is  essentially  a 
psychic  science.  The  development  of  human  culture  has  been  a 
socio-psychic  process,  not  capable  of  interpretation  in  mere  objec- 
tive terms. 

Social  life  is  essentially  psychic.  From  Comte  onward  most 
sociologists  have  recognized  that  it  is  the  psychic  elements  that 
constitute  the  social.  We  cannot  think  of  society  without  refer- 
ence to  consciousness.  "Any  situation  in  the  social  life  of  hu- 
manity will  be  found,  upon  analysis,  to  consist  of  conscious  activi- 
ties, mental  attitudes,  ideas,  feelings,  beliefs,  interests,  desires, 
values,  and  the  like.  Customs,  usages,  traditions,  social  stand- 
ards, civilization  itself,  all  resolve  themselves  into  elements  which 
are  essentially  psychical."^  In  fact,  it  is  the  inter-mental  life 
in  a  group  of  individuals  which  makes  social  life  possible.  Ifc 
is  mental  interaction,  or  the  functional  interdependence  of  indi- 
viduals on  the  psychic  side,  which  constitutes  society.  A  society 
then  may  be  defined  as  a  group  of  individuals  who  carry  on  a 
common  life  by  means  of  mental  interaction. 

•  *  Professor  Ellwood  bag  published  several  books,  "  An  Introduction  to  Social  Psychol- 
ogy, ' '  "  Sociology  in  i  ts  Psychological  Aspects, ' '  "Sociology  and  Modtrn  Social  Problems," 
and  "The  Social  Problem  ' ' ;  also  various  magazine  articles.  The  first  book  mentioned  is 
the  most  important  for  social  theory  and  for  the  purpose  of  this  article 

1  Introduction  to  Social  Psychology,  p.  6. 


EDUCATION  IN  KECENT  SOCIOLOGY  33 

The  significance  of  this  view  to  educational  theory  is  obvious. 
Social  life  is  to  be  interpreted  in  psychic  terms,  in  other  words  in 
terms  of  instinct,  acquired  habit,  feeling  and  emotion,  desire,  love, 
hatred  and  also  intelligence.  It  is  just  these  psychic  factors  with 
which  education  has  to  do.  They  provide  the  data  for  the  educa- 
tional process.  Education  is  based  upon  instincts,  it  breaks  and 
develops  habits,  it  evaluates  and  harmonizes  the  emotions,  and  it 
trains  the  intellect.  Researches  in  social  psychology  are  evidently 
of  fundamental  interest  to  the  solution  of  educational  problems. 

Man  lives,  we  are  told,  not  in  a  perceptual,  but  in  an  ideational 
world;  or  let  us  say,  man  builds  himself  up  out  of  a  perceptual 
world,  with  which  he  began,  into  an  ideational  world.  Growth  in 
social  tradition,  also  called  social  heredity,  has  meant  a  gradual 
accumulation  of  knowledge,  ideas,  beliefs,  standards  and  values, 
and  therefore  a  gradual  substitution  of  a  psychical  environment 
for  an  environment  of  physical  objects.  This  does  not  mean  that 
the  world  of  real  objects  has  become  smaller  to  civilized  man,  but 
rather  that  his  w^orld  of  ideas  has  enlarged.  He  approaches  the 
physical  world  with  a  set  of  values  already  built  up  in  the  social 
tradition.  "Higher  civilization  is,  therefore,  in  many  respects, 
the  substitution  of  what  we  may  call  a  'subjective  environment' 
for  an  objective  environment.  Every  developed  type  of  civiliza- 
tion, therefore,  is  dominated  by  certain  ideas,  beliefs  or  standards, 
which  give  it,  so  to  speak,  its  particular  form  and  color.  These 
ruling  ideas  or  ideals  may  be  called  the  'psychic  dominants'  of  the 
civilization.  .  .  .  They  are  the  dominant  elements  in  that  body 
of  social  tradition  which  furnishes  the  real  environment  to  which 
the  individual  reacts."^  The  tremendous  influence  of  these  psy- 
chic dominants  upon  human  conduct  is  apparent  in  all  periods  of 
history.  They  account  for  the  peculiarities  of  different  ages  and 
civilizations.  Through  history  we  find  a  succession  of  dominating 
ideas,  having  their  expression  in  monasticism,  the  Crusades,  chiv- 
alry, occasional  eagerness  for  learning  or  art,  exploration,  move- 
ments for  religious  or  political  freedom,  witchcraft,  other-world- 
liness,  occasional  waves  of  civic  virtue,  migration,  the  fevered 

1  Introduction  to  Social  Psychology,  p.  130. 


34  EDUCATION  IN  BECENT  SOCIOLOGY 

search  for  wealth,  etc.  Each  of  these,  and  many  others,  have  at 
times  been  striking  factors  in  a  psychic  environment  to  which 
men  have  adjusted  themselves. 

The  diversity  of  these  psychic  dominants,  as  presented  in  his- 
tory and  among  different  peoples,  indicates  the  versatile  character 
of  human  nature,  which  tends  to  adjust  itself  to  any  one  of  a 
variety  of  psychical  situations.  And,  of  course,  in  so  far  as  the 
dominant  factor  in  the  psychical  environment  can  be  rationally 
controlled  or  produced,  so  far  is  the  life  and  conduct  of  the  indi- 
vidual intelligently  regulated.  The  term  "psychic  dominant"  is 
attributed  to  the  historian,  Lamprecht.  Elhvood  urges,  however, 
that  social  life,  especially  modern  civilized  society,  is  much  more 
complex  than  Lamprecht  assumed,  and  that  in  a  correct  interpre- 
tation of  it  we  may  find  not  one  ruling  idea  but  many. 

The  direct  relation  of  such  psychological  factors  as  instinct, 
intelligence,  habit,  imitation,  suggestion  and  feeling,  to  the  social 
life  is  elaborated  by  Elwood;  and  while  very  important  to  social 
psychology,  this  material  will  be  omitted  for  lack  of  space. 
iSTotable  contributions  to  the  subject  have  been  made  by  Baldwin, 
Tarde,  McDougall,  Hobhouse,  and  others.  We  are  concerned 
next  with  some  basic  problems  of  sociology. 

The  most  fundamental  concerns  of  sociology  are  the  problems 
of  social  order  or  organization,  and  of  social  change  or  progress. 
The  problem  of  social  order  has  to  do  with  a  settled  or  harmo- 
nious relation  between  the  individuals  and  groups  making  up  a 
society.  Organization  is,  of  course,  essential  to  any  group  life. 
In  order  to  secure  harmonious  social  adjustments  societies  have 
maintained  certain  regulative  institutions.  The  chief  of  these 
are  government,  law,  religion,  morality  and  education.  In  the 
brief  discussion  which  follows,  it  will  be  seen  that  each  of  these, 
in  order  to  be  effective,  depends  upon  educational  methods,  and 
therefore  that  education  is  fundamental  to  them  all. 

Government  supported  by  law  is  conunonly  thought  of  as  the 
chief  regulative  institution.  And  it  is  so  when  social  order  is 
regarded  mainly  in  terms  of  police  powers.  It  is  the  agency  of 
last  resort  to  restrain  the  behavior  of  the  individual  in  the  interest 


EDUCATION  IN  BECENT  SOCIOLOGY  35 

of  the  group, — or  let  us  say,  of  the  dominant  group.  To  a  great 
extent,  indeed,  government  in  the  past  has  been  maintained  to  pro- 
mote the  privileges  of  dominant  classes  at  the  expense  of  others. 
Today  nations  are  striving  to  become  democratic,  to  make  govern- 
ment representative  of  the  whole  group,  and  therefore  above  indi- 
vidual and  class  egoisms.  This  is  possible  only  where  individual 
citizens  are  dominated  by  patriotic  and  humanitarian  ideals.  To 
secure  these  is  the  work  of  education.  Today  it  is  recognized  more 
than  ever  before,  that  government  has  the  positive  function  of 
actively  promoting  the  social  welfare.  We  have  not  the  fear  of 
government  as  had  the  individualists  of  the  recent  past.  ^'That 
government  is  not  best  which  governs  least,  but  rather  that  which 
governs  most ;  provided  it  does  it  in  socially  wise  ways,  so  as 
neither  to  destroy  individual  initiative  nor  to  block  normal  social 
change,"^  But  broad  increase  in  the  functions  of  government 
would  be  suppressive  of  democracy  without  wide  diffusion  of 
knowledge. 

Religion  has  always  been  a  powerful  factor  in  maintaining  the 
social  order.  Often  it  has  been  used  in  defense  of  exploitation 
and  has  been  therefore  an  obstacle  to  progress.  At  other  times 
it  has  been  a  potent  force  for  good,  and  there  is  no  reason  why 
it  should  not  attach  its  sanctions  to  an  increasingly  higher  social 
order  and  become  a  telling  factor  in  human  advance.  "What  is 
needed  is  a  socialized  religion,  a  'religion  of  humanity,'  which 
will  make  the  service  of  man  the  highest  expression  of  religion. 
.  .  .  The  Church,  as  the  concrete  institutional  expression  of  the 
religious  life  .  .  .  ought  to  become  the  public  conservator  and 
propagator  of  social  values.  .  .  .  This  means  that  it  must  become 
largely  an  educational  institution,  ...  a  society  where  the  highest 
ethical  culture  is  given  to  all  who  come  within  its  influence."^' 
This  type  of  church  will  depend  wholly  on  educational  methods. 

Social  order  must  rest  upon  positive  moral  standards,  stand- 
ards which  have  to  be  raised  as  civilization  advances.  The  sim- 
pler morality  of  early  times  does  not  suffice.  Higher  types  are 
needed  as  civilization  grows  in  complexity.     No  moral  ideal  is 

1  Introdaction  to  Social  Psychology,  p.  269. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  271. 


36  EDUCATION  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY 

effective  which  is  not  stated  in  social  terms.  In  fact,  "The  moral 
ideal  must  be  pictured,  not  as  a  perfect  individual,  but  as  a  per- 
fect society,  consisting  of  all  humanity.  This  means  that  we 
must  have  a  socialized  or  humanitarian  ethics  which  will  teach 
the  individual  to  find  his  self-development  and  his  happiness  in 
the  service  of  others,  and  which  will  forbid  any  individual,  class, 
nation,  or  even  race,  from  regarding  itself  as  an  end  in  itself, 
apart  from  the  rest  of  humanity."^  If  the  time  and  energy  now 
spent  in  teaching  and  preaching  the  ideal  of  a  perfect  individual 
could  be  transferred  to  training  the  imagination  of  people  to  catch 
the  vision  of  a  superior  social  order,  a  giant  stride  in  progress 
would  be  the  result.  It  is  not  some  vague  Utopia  that  is  wanted, 
but  a  social  ideal  scientifically  constructive,  having  due  regard  for 
human  traits  both  actual  and  latent.  It  is  especially  important  to 
point  out  immediate  steps  in  the  attainment  of  the  ideal.  Of 
course,  no  concept  of  a  perfect  individual  can  be  formulated  ex- 
cept in  reference  to  the  whole  social  situation  in  which  he  is  con- 
ceived to  exist. 

The  conclusion  of  the  discussion  on  social  order  is  that  all  regu- 
lative institutions  depend  on  education  to  be  effective,  and  there- 
fore that  education  must  be  the  ultimate  form  of  control.  "Per- 
sonal education,  therefore,  furnishes  the  ultimate  and  most  subtle 
form  of  control,  because  it  controls  the  formation  of  habit  and  so 
of  character  in  the  developing  individual.  It  must  be  the  main 
reliance  of  civilized  society  in  securing  high  types  of  social  order. 
If  properly  carried  out,  personal  education  should  furnish  to  the 
developing  individual  at  the  plastic  period  of  life  a  controlled 
artificial  environment,  especially  a  subjective  environment  of  the 
proper  ideas,  ideals,  standards  and  values.  It  can  accordingly 
mold  individual  character  in  almost  any  direction  which  heredity 
makes  possible."^  Education  of  a  socialized  type  is  urged  by 
Ellwood,  therefore,  as  the  ultimate  means  of  social  control;  but, 
it  should  be  observed,  that  it  is  not  thought  of  as  separate  from 

1  Introduction  to  Social  Psychology,  p.  276. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  278. 


EDUCATION  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY  37 

the  other  regulative  institutions  so  much  as  the  method  by  which 
the  others  are  to  be  realized. 

Theories  to  account  for  progress  are  next  in  order  of  discus- 
sion. The  anthropo-geographical  theory  finds  the  active  causes  of 
human  progress  in  favorable  conditions  of  the  physical  environ- 
ment. The  biological  or  ethnological  theory  of  progress  accounts 
for  a  few  factors,  but  at  best  man's  biological  constitution  can 
furnish  only  a  basis  on  which  his  social  progress  can  take  place. 
It  can  offer,  therefore,  but  potentialities  of  his  progress.  Much 
more  consideration  can  be  given  to  the  economic  theory  of  progress, 
but  as  an  adequate  theory  it  must  be  rejected  because  it  regards 
the  mind  as  a  more  or  less  passive  reflex  of  the  environment,  in- 
stead of  an  active  instrument  of  adaption,  an  agency  with  cen- 
trally initiated  powers.  It  makes  ideas  depend  upon  mere  envi- 
ronment to  the  neglect  of  original  human  nature  as  a  factor. 

Psychical  theories  of  progress,  theories  which  see  progress  to 
depend  upon  psychical  factors,  furnish  the  best  explanation  of 
human  progress;  furthermore,  they  emphasize  elements  within 
human  control.  This  view  means  that  the  changes  in  man's  ideas, 
standards  and  values  have  been  the  chief  factors  in  his  social  ad- 
vance. Certainly  man's  ideas  are  not  mere  reflections  from  a 
material  environment.  The  intellect  and  its  ideas  must  be  seen 
as  instruments  of  adjustment  and  as  the  means  by  which  social 
progTess  can  be  rationally  planned  and  controlled.  The  final  suc- 
cess of  the  prohibition  movement  may  be  suggested  as  an  illustra- 
tion of  the  powerful  effect  of  the  diffusion  of  ideas.  Certainly 
it  cannot  be  ascribed  to  changes  in  geographical,  biological,  or 
even  economic  conditions.  It  is  to  be  traced  rather  to  the  accu- 
mulation and  diffusion  of  ideas  and  ideals.  It  is  an  illustration 
of  how  new  knowledge  and  standards  have  produced  a  veritable 
revolution,  although  pitted  against  long-established  modes  de- 
fended by  privileges  and  vested  interests.  And  there  is  reason  to 
believe,  says  Ellwood,  that  rational  changes  and  adaptations  in 
every  phase  of  life  can  be  effected  by  the  same  process. 

The  sociological  theory  of  progress  is  introduced  by  Professor 


38  EDUCATION   IN-  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY 

Ellwood  for  final  acceptance.  The  psychological  view  alone  is  not 
enough.  The  sociological  theory  is  synthetic  and  recognizes  that 
all  the  above  conceptions  contribute  some  factors  to  a  complete 
theory.  We  found  that  the  psychological  view  transcended  all  the 
preceding  in  importance,  nevertheless  the  character  of  the  psychic 
factors  which  will  result  in  progress  must  be  determined.  The 
intellectual  elements  of  knowledge,  beliefs  and  standards,  also 
emotional  attitudes  and  values,  need  to  be  socialized,  need  to  be 
of  a  type  which  make  for  efficient  and  harmonious  social  relations ; 
they  need  to  be  given  a  humanitarian  direction  without  special 
favor  to  any  class  or  group.  To  Professor  Ellwood  no  scheme  of 
progress  is  complete  which  does  not  regard  the  whole  human  race 
as  its  goal.  ''It  is  only  ideas,  standards  and  values  which  are 
capable  of  serving  as  instruments  of  the  increasing  social  co-ordi- 
nation and  co-adaptation  of  the  largest  possible  human  group — 
humanity  as  a  whole — which  are  capable  of  working  consistently 
in  the  direction  of  social  progress."^ 

We  have  been  discussing  theories  of  social  progress.  By  way 
of  conclusion  we  need  a  further  look  into  the  nature  of  society 
itself.  What  is  society  ?  What  holds  the  various  parts  together  ? 
W^hat  is  of  especial  significance  in  the  relations  among  men? 
Three  theories  on  the  essential  nature  of  the  social  bond  are  pre- 
sented,— the  contract,  the  organic,  and  the  psychological.  The 
theory  of  contract  makes  all  social  organization  an  outcome  of  self- 
conscious  relations  between  individuals,  relations  based  upon  the 
mutual  consent  of  the  parties  thereto.  While  views  are  still  ex- 
pressed, even  today,  on  social  problems,  such  as  marriage  and  the 
family,  which  are  strongly  colored  by  the  contract  theory,  this 
conception  was  long  ago  supplanted  by  the  organic  theory,  a  re- 
action from  it.  The  organic  theory  was  a  product  of  nineteenth 
century  biology.  Society  was  seen  in  the  likeness  of  an  animal 
organism.  Later  this  theory  was  interpreted  in  more  acceptable 
ways  by  philosophical  writers,  but  the  analogy  remains  misleading. 

That  Ellwood  finds  the  truth  to  bo  in  the  psychological  theory 
has  been  shoTsm  from  the  beginning  of  this  article.     A  final  sum- 

1  Introduction  to  Social  Psychology,  p.  310. 


EDUCATION  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY  39 

mary  of  the  view-point  will  clarify  it.  "Wherein,  then,  is  the 
psychological  theory  of  society  distinctive,  and  what  is  its  peculiar 
value?  The  reply  is,  that  the  psychological  conception  presents 
the  social  life  as  an  adaptive  process  in  which  the  psychic  pro- 
cesses within  the  individual  function  as  the  active  elements.  It 
is  the  theory  that  the  social  life  is  a  process,  but  a  process  made 
up  essentially  of  psychic  elements;  that  is,  of  forms  of  inter- 
stimulation  and  response  between  individuals,  such  as  communi- 
cation, suggestion,  imitation,  sympathy,  conflict,  and  of  psychic 
processes  within  individuals,  such  as  instinct,  habit,  feeling  and 
intelligence.  It  is  the  theory  that  the  explanation  of  human  social 
life,  as  we  have  said,  is  to  be  sought  in  the  underlying  traits  and 
dispositions  of  men,  in  the  influences  of  the  environment  which 
act  upon  their  plastic  natures,  and  in  the  resultant  aims  and 
standards  which  they  develop.  The  social  process,  according  to 
this  theory,  is  not  purely  subjective,  but  is  psychic  only  in  the 
sense  that  its  significant  elements  are  psychic.  .  .  .  Human  cul- 
ture is  essentially  a  psychic  matter,  and  the  human  societies  that 
we  know  are  creations  of  cultural  evolution."^ 

There  is  an  inspiring  optimism  to  the  educator  in  the  researches 
of  social  psychology.  His  work  takes  on  a  deeper  significance. 
He  fi.nds  that  education  persistently  and  scientifically  applied  will 
achieve  great  results  in  the  advance  of  the  human  race,  and  that 
it  is  the  only  thing  that  will.  "The  easiest  approach  to  the  modi- 
fication of  human  society,  therefore,  is  through  the  manipulatiori 
of  the  intellectual  elements,  ideas,  standards  and  values,  espe- 
cially in  the  young.  Their  rational  direction  and  control  in  the 
way  of  social  advantage  can  certainly  be  counted  upon  to  change 
the  whole  mass  of  habits,  social  attitudes,  customs  and  institutions 
of  society.  The  limits  of  the  possibilities  of  such  change,  more- 
over, cannot  be  set.  Civilization  is  just  beginning,  and  when  the 
civilizing  process  is  rationally  directed  with  an  understanding  of 
the  principles  of  human  psychology  and  sociology,  social  progress 
will  be  beyond  anvthing  which  the  world  now  dreams  to  be  prac- 
ticable."2 

1  Introduction  to  Social  Psychology,  p.  322. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  325. 


40  EDUCATIOX  IN  EECEIirT  SOCIOLOGY 

Perhaps  no  \\Titer  makes  education  and  sociolog}'  more  closely 
allied  than  does  Ellwood.  Accordins:  to  him  the  human  social 
process  itself  is  essentially  an  educative  process.  It  is  a  proce-'s 
of  learning  and  of  achievement  by  groups,  and  its  results  are  trans- 
mitted only  as  they  are  taught  a  younger  generation  by  an  elder. 
This  was  true  even  in  primitive  times,  as  is  sho"\\Ti  by  the  growth 
of  any  tradition,  say  that  of  tool-making;  but  it  is  even  more  true 
of  modern  democratic  societies,  where  the  whole  process  of  social 
adjustment  is  mediated  by  a  process  of  mutual  education,  such 
as  communication,  discussion,  and  the  formation  of  group  opin- 
ions and  standards.  It  follows  that  the  educative  process  in  the 
schools  is  only  a  formalized,  simplified,  and  controlled  social  pro- 
cess, which  can  be  understood  only  as  a  control  over  the  whole 
social  process  of  the  community,  and  that  the  development  and 
enrichment  of  educative  processes  in  a  community  is  the  normal 
method  of  human  progress.  Education  is  thus  the  very  method 
of  cultural  evolution. 

In  conclusion,  we  have  space  for  a  brief  reference  to  educational 
practice.  The  problem  of  training  in  citizenship  is  stated  in  this 
way.  "We  have  built  a  gigantic  material  civilization  that  re- 
sembles nothing  so  much  as  a  mighty  machine  which  requires 
almost  infinite  intelligence  and  good-will  to  run  it  in  such  a  way 
that  it  will  not  bring  disaster  upon  us.  Yet  the  intelligence  and 
good-will  necessary  to  run  this  social  machine  must  in  a  democ- 
racy reside  in  the  people  themselves.  Here  then  is  our  problem. 
How  are  we  to  secure  the  intelligence  and  good-will  needed  in 
the  mass  of  our  citizens  to  meet  the  increasingly  complex  problems 
of  an  ever  increasingly  complex  civilization."^  The  real  sover- 
eignty in  a  democracy  is  public  opinion.  To  secure  public  opin- 
ion of  the  kind  needed  to  solve  the  baffling  social  and  political 
problems  which  confront  us  requires  a  his'h  degree  of  social  and 
political  intelligence  among  the  masses.  This  means  much  more 
than  an  impulse  to  patriotism  or  a  mere  sentiment  of  good-will. 
It  means  dynamic  opinion  in  respect  to  specific  problems  like 
capital  and  labor,  taxation,  production,  sanitation,  schools,  rela- 

1  Education  for  Citizenehip  in  a  Democracy.    Am.  Jour,  of  Soc,  July,  '20. 


EDDCATIOX  IX  ItECENT  SOCIOLOGY  41 

^■ions  to  other  nations  and  races,  and  many  others.  How  shall  we 
develop  adequate  intellioence  along  these  lines  ?  Ellwood  suggests 
by  making  social  studies  fundamental  in  the  curricula  of  the 
schools,  from  the  kindergarten  to  the  college.  By  social  studies 
is  meant  history^  community  civics,  domestic  science,  public  hy- 
giene, economics,  politics,  ethics,  anthropology,  and  specialized  ap- 
plications of  these.  Unless  social  problems  are  made  central  in 
the  scheme  of  education,  there  is  little  hope  of  attaining  an  effi- 
cient democracy.  Fortunately  an  increasing  number  of  educators 
are  agreeing  with  the  sociologists  that  social  studies  should  be 
central  in  the  school. 

The  schools  should  aim  more  directly  at  moral  training.  "That 
the  ideals  of  justice,  brotherhood  and  the  service  of  mankind  can- 
not be  taught  in  our  public  schools  as  easily  as  the  ideals  of  busi- 
ness efficiency,  vocational  excellence  or  commercial  success,  is 
absurd.""  The  mistake  has  been  made  of  thinking  „that  moral 
and  social  standards,  and  even  patriotism,  can  be  taught  as  ab- 
stractions. These  things  are  the  flowering  of  the  training  in  social 
service.  They  are  values  which  may  be  expected  to  emerge  through 
the  study  of  concrete  social  situations  and  problems.  It  is  the 
latter  with  which  we  must  begin.  The  school  should  teach  the 
ideal  of  service  at  all  times.  The  self-interest  ideal  has  been 
found  to  be  a  failure,  a  fact  proved  by  experience  and  also  by 
the  study  of  human  relationships.  The  service  ideal  is  the  sub- 
stitute. Would  it  not  be  possible  to  provide  such  an  environment 
for  the  child  in  school  that  social  service  would  be  seen  and  felt 
as  the  ruling  idea  there,  as  the  psychic  dominant,  all  the  way  from 
the  first  grade  to  the  university  ? 

Like  the  sociologists  already  studied,  Ellwood  urges  a  quick- 
ened faith  in  the  power  of  education.  It  has  usually  been  assumed 
that  the  American  people  were  devoted  to  education  as  an  ideal. 
Our  social  and  economic  ignorance,  high  percentage  of  illiteracy, 
and  poorly  paid  teachers  indicate  the  contrary.  "We  need  a 
deeper  faith  in  education  as  a  savior  and  regenerator  of  democracy. 
We  need  to  realize  that  education  is  the  conscious  method  of 

2  Educational  Theory  of  Social  Progress.    Sci.  Mo.,  Nov.,  '17. 


42 


EDUCATION  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY 


social  evolution  and  so,  in  the  last  analysis,  the  only  rational 
means  of  social  progress.  We  need  to  see  the  vital  relation  between 
democracy  and  education,  that  both  must  rise  or  sink  together. 
But  we  need  especially  a  practical  faith  in  education,  such  as 
will  lead  us  to  match  every  dollar  spent  for  army  or  navy  or  mili- 
tary training  by  at  least  another  dollar  spent  for  our  schools. 
Then,  perhaps,  we  shall  be  able  to  safeguard  our  own  democracy, 
and  thus  do  our  bit  in  making  a  world  safe  for  democracy."^ 

1  Kdiication  for  Citizenship  in  a  Democracy.    Am.  Jour,  of  Soc,  July,  '20. 


EDUCATION  TK  RECENT  SOCIOT>OGV  43 


V 


EDWARD    A.    ROSS 

jiin«iHimniiiiiiiiimt*j^  l}^^  many  publications  of  Professor  Eoss  the  most 
I  ^^  I  ambitious  and  comprehensive,  is  his  recent  great 
I  11  g  work,  the  ''Principles  of  Sociology."  While  a  few 
I  I   representative  concepts  are  basal  in  the  other  soci- 

4^)iiiiiniiu!aiiiHimiiit^  ologies  discussed,  core  ideas  are  less  apparent  in 
I  I   Ross's  scheme  of  presentation.     The  work  presents 

I  I   a  wide  range  of  observation   and  discussion.      In 

this  article  we  are  concerned  with  those  aspects 
of  it  which  are  especially  suggestive  to  the  educator,  and,  like 
the  other  sociologies  discussed,  it  has  for  the  educator  rich  sugges- 
tions. Of  the  numerous  phases  of  education  touched  upon  we 
have  space  for  only  a  few,  and  the  following  have  been  selected: 

(a)  The     effect     of    social    contacts    upon    individual    growth. 

(b)  Social  environment  as  a  factor  in  the  character  of  persons 
and  peoples,  (c)  The  place  of  recreation  and  of  art  in  life, 
(d)  Eugenics  and  the  education  of  women,  (e)  Arguments  for 
the  social  sciences,  (f )  Relation  of  the  school  to  the  government, 
(g)  Education  as  protection  against  mob  mind. 

(a)  AVhile  this  book  deals  with  groups  and  group  activities 
the  individual  is  by  no  means  slighted.  He  is  much  in  evidence, 
a  fact  fortunate  for  the  educator  since  the  individual  is  the  unit 
of  educational  endeavor.  Ross  provides  us  with  a  suggestive  dis- 
cussion of  the  effects  of  association  on  individual  growth. 

There  is  no  such  thing  as  human  nature  in  isolation.  It  could 
not  develop.  A  child  without  human  associates  would  attain  a 
mentality  little  above  that  of  imbecile.  "Self-consciousness,  the 
rise  of  personality,  and  the  ordinary  capacity  for  thought  and 
emotion  are  impossible  without  the  give-and-take  of  life  in  so- 


44  EDUCATION  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY 

ciety."^  Prison  records  show  that  solitary  confinement  results  in 
madness.  The  mere  privilege  of  waving  a  handkerchief  at  one 
of  his  fellows  saved  the  mind  of  an  Italian  prisoner.  The  imag- 
inary companion  is  well  known  to  child  psychology.  The  "only" 
child  is  likely  to  suffer  in  his  social  nature.  The  essentially  social 
nature  of  a  human  being  has  been  recognized  only  lately  and 
the  delay  in  its  recognition  has  worked  infinite  harm. 

The  educator  is  concerned  with  the  gi'owth  of  personality. 
This  growth  is  by  means  of  social  stimuli.  We  are  dependent 
upon  the  recognition  of  others.  Under  the  heading,  "The  Mirrored 
Self,"  are  suggestions  of  the  manner  of  this  growth.  In  its  first 
year  the  child  performs  many  little  acts  and  watches  the  social 
results.  The  effect  produced  upon  others  determines  his  own 
estimate  of  the  worth  of  the  act.  "The  human  looking-glass  in 
which  the  infant  sees  its  little  I  reflected  furnishes  it  a  powerful 
stimulus  to  do  things.  Children  brought  up  in  foundling  asy- 
lums .  .  .  learn  to  walk  and  to  speak  much  later  than  those 
whose  baby  efforts  call  forth  the  encouraging  "ohs"  and  "ahs"  of 
an  admiring  family,  whose  sympathy  baby  soon  learns  to  claim 
as  his  right.""  Likewise  association  stimulates  school  pupils  to 
achievement.  Experience  has  sho^vn  that  both  the  quality  and 
the  speed  of  their  work  is  superior  when  performed  in  groups. 

The  demand  for  social  approval  is  a  life  long  trait.  But  we 
differ  greatly  in  our  sensitiveness  to  the  mirrored  self,  and  like- 
wise in  the  image  for  which  we  look.  The  ambitious  man  pants 
for  recognition.  He  wants  to  figure  potently  in  the  minds  of 
others,  to  be  greatly  loved,  admired  or  feared.  The  shallow 
nature  covets  approval  of  his  immediate  crowd.  The  wise  man 
is  content  with  the  approval  of  the  discerning.  The  man  of 
highest  achievement  may  be  careless  whether  the  public  ever 
learns  of  his  existence;  but  even  he  needs  an  inner  circle  who 
understand  and  appreciate  his  achievement.  In  fact  the  inde- 
pendent character  may  find  satisfaction  wholly  in  the  approval 
of  imaginary  persons.     "He  may  be  serene  when  all  men  revile 

1  Principles  of  Sociology,  p.  96. 
-2  Ibid,  p.  114. 


EDUCATION  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY  45 

him  because  in  liis  imagination  he  sees  himself  triumphantly 
justified  before  some  high  tribunal  of  the  worthies  of  the  past  or 
of  the  elite  of  the  generations  to  come  ....  It  is  rather  a  fine 
type  that  is  captivated  by  the  idea  of  recognition  of  the  unborn."^ 
But  recognition,  present  or  remote,  real  or  imagined,  there  must 
be,  or  purpose  and  effort  will  perish. 

What  we  become  is  dependent  upon  social  suggestion  and  ap- 
proval. Any  normal  child  could  develop  into  something  noble 
and  splendid  with  the  certainty  of  natural  law,  were  it  possible  by 
combined  efforts  of  its  associates  persistently  applied  to  stimulate 
capacity  and  approve  and  disapprove  wisely.  As  factors  in  the 
growth  of  personality,  suggestion  and  approbation  have  scarcely 
yet  entered  into  the  methodology  of  education.  Not  that  their 
place  is  unrecognized  by  most  teachers,  nor  that  educational  writ- 
ers have  overlooked  their  importance;  but  we  have  developed  no 
technique  of  their  use. 

(b)  It  is  the  fate  or  fortune  of  a  human  being  to  be  bom  into 
a  social  environment  which  necessarily  colors  his  life.  He  cannot 
shake  off  the  effects.  Classes  take  on  certain  characteristics, 
whole  peoples  take  on  characteristics  which  are  but  adjustments 
to  social  demand.  This  fact  has  caused  civilization  to  grow  out  of 
savagery.  For  centuries  culture  materials  and  social  standards 
have  accumulated,  furnishing  man  the  stage  on  which  he  now  acts. 
Ross  says  of  Standards,  "The  effective  social  standards  constitute, 
as  it  were,  a  trestle  by  means  of  which  a  people  rises  farther  and 
farther  above  the  plane  of  the  instincts.  If  the  higher  stand- 
ards were  broken  down  it  would  sink  to  the  barbarian  level.  If 
all  gave  way,  it  would  find  itself  on  the  moral  plane  of  savages. 
There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  our  original  nature  is  appre- 
ciably better  than  that  of  our  Neolithic  ancestors.  If  we  behave 
much  better  than  they  did  it  is  owing  to  the  influence  of  the 
social  standards  we  are  reared  in."^ 

Our  happiness  as  civilized  men  comes  from  our  social  inheri- 
tance.    But  civilization  presents  thousands  of  types  of  malad- 

1  Ibid,  p.  nc. 

2  Ibid,  p.  564. 


46  EDUCATION  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY 

justmeut  aiid  of  arrested  development.  Both  in  our  own  and 
in  other  lands  are  social  requirements  which  act  as  blights  upon 
the  human  spirit.  Subordination  saps  character.  The  servant 
is  humiliated  by  the  tip  he  accepts.  The  disappearance  of  house- 
hold industries  has  increased  the  economic  dependence  of  the 
wife.  The  dependence  of  teachers  and  preachers  upon  wealthy 
eoverniuir  boards  lessens  their  visfor  as  social  reformers.  Eco- 
nomic  serfdom  dwarfs  manhood.  Whole  peoples  show  degenerate 
traits  when  subjected  to  subjugation  and  inequalities.  Ross 
refers  to  the  "pliant  and  slippery  character"  of  the  peoples  long 
under  the  yoke  of  the  Turk.  In  most  sections  of  our  country 
the  Xegro  can  feel  himself  but  a  half  man.  "Dependence  wilts 
manhood  as  surely  as  the  tropic  sun  wilts  northern  energy. 
However  stiff  the  native  backbone  of  a  race,  a  few  generations 
under  the  yoke  will  make  them  worms.  The  type  of  character 
we  stigmatize  as  "Asiatic"  testifies,  not  to  the  presence  of  innate 
weakness  in  the  races  of  Asia,  but  to  their  long  subjection  to 
arbitrary  power.  The  nearer  a  class  is  to  the  bottom  of  the  social 
heap,  the  worse  will  its  members  be  deformed  in  spirit,  and  the 
less  often  will  they  exhibit  the  normal  traits  of  freeman."^ 

Unfortunately,  characteristics  wholly  social  in  origin  are 
interpreted  as  psycho-physical.  "In  born  dependents,  servility 
sycophancy,  lying  and  petty  thievery  are  as  natural  as  it  is 
natural  for  a  starving  crop  to  be  yellow ;  yet  these  by-products  of 
pressure  are  pointed  to  as  proofs  of  a  poor  moral  endowment 
Against  a  background  of  such  faults  stand  out  the  more  brilliantly 
the  high  spirit,  manliness,  and  sense  of  honor  of  the  hereditary 
superiors.  Character-contrasts  social  in  origin  are  interpreted 
as  inborn.  To  divert  attention  from  their  underpinning  of  privi- 
lege, the  superiors  point  to  the  low-caste  and  say:  'Look,  they 
are  the  dull-witted,  the  incapable ;  we  are  the  well-born,  the  fittest. 
Our  mastership  and  our  reward  are  of  Nature's  own  giving.  We 
are  the  cream  that  rises  to  the  top  of  the  milk."^ 

The  turn  of  human  character  at  the  twist  of  the  social  environ- 

1  Principles  of  Sociology,  p.  366. 

2  Ibid,  p.  367. 


EDUCATION  IN  ItECENT  SOCIOLOGY  47 

ment  is  by  no  means  a  cause  for  pessimism;  quite  the  contrary. 
Human  nature  is  malleable;  and  it  is  as  readily  responsive  to 
right  as  to  wrong  stimuli.  In  this  is  the  educator's  opportunity. 
His  task  is  to  surround  the  young  generation  with  an  environ- 
ment designed  to  elicit  the  higher,  happier,  cooperative  traits  of 
human  natui'e. 

(c)  Modern  thinking  has  shown  us  human  nature's  deep  de- 
mand for  recreation.  In  fact  recreation  has  become  one  of  the 
foremost  social  and  educational  problems.  The  evolutionary  view 
of  man's  origin  which  has  cleared  up  so  much  of  the  contiict 
between  reason  and  instinct,  has  afforded  an  understanding  of 
the  problem  impossible  before.  It  has  put  play  in  its  right 
perspective.  Neither  Mencius'  idea  of  the  original  goodness  of 
human  nature  nor  Calvin's  doctrine  of  total  depravity  have  tal- 
lied with  facts.  Man's  nature  is  not  simple.  Its  roots  extend  to 
the  remote  past,  and  it  is  these  very  old  tendencies  in  human 
nature,  inherited  from  prehuman  ancestors  as  well  as  from  early 
man,  that  explain  much  of  our  psychical  composition.  Each 
of  those  original  tendencies,  commonly  called  instincts,  were  good 
in  the  sense  that  they  were  instruments  of  survival.  But  owing  to 
the  grip  of  heredity  the  instinct  survives  the  wild  life  in  which 
it  was  serviceable.  Conditions  of  living  have  changed  so  greatly 
that  many  of  these  tendencies  no  longer  find  an  outlet;  never- 
theless, the  demand  for  their  expression  continues.  Man  has 
passed  through  various  culture  stages,  and  "the  series — herds- 
man, husbandman,  craftsman,  artisan — constitutes  a  curve  away 
from  the  instinctive,  which  finds  its  terminus  in  the  machine- 
tender.  With  little  in  it  to  arouse  the  impulses  of  rivalry,  curios- 
ity, or  constructiveness,  the  day's  work  is  done  under  steady 
strain."^ 

There  is  today,  lloss  observes,  a  growing  passion  for  recreation, 
and  it  is  due  to  the  poverty  of  modern  employments  in  elements 
which  stimulate  the  instincts.  What  is  coveted  by  the  tired 
worker  in  store,  office  and  factory  is  not  merely  rest,  relaxation 
or  change  of  activity.    "No,  what  ails  the  slave  of  desk  and  clock, 

2  Ibid,  p.  610. 


48  EDUCATION  IN  KECENT  SOCIOLOGY 

of  client  and  customer,  is  what  ails  the  horse  pawing  in  his  stall, 
the  wolf  restlessly  pacing  his  cage,  lie  needs  experience  that  ivill 
feed  his  famishing  instincts.  Hence  the  great  recipe  for  recrea- 
tion is  "back  to  JS'ature" — raw  Nature,  so  rich  in  simple  and 
racially  familiar  things!  In  a  wilderness  trip  the  novice  thinks 
that  it  is  the  big  outstanding  features  that  do  him  good — canoe 
paddling,  swimming,  fishing,  or  shooting  rapids.  The  fact  is, 
most  of  his  benefit  comes  from  a  lot  of  little  things  which  he 
scarcely  notices,  but  which  register  ifi  his  subconscious  mind. 
Such  are  green-clad  hills,  tossing  seas  of  verdure,  the  sparkle  of 
sunlight  on  stirring  leaves  and  rippling  waters,  the  mirror  magic 
of  still  lakes,  the  soughing  in  pine  tops,  the  shadow  dance  of  sun 
falling  through  foliage,  the  challenge  of  precipitous  trails,  the 
sense  of  little  peering  furry  creatures,  all  about  one.  Thick 
woods,  darkness,  and  queer  night  noises  stir  the  wild  self  in  us 
just  enough  to  afford  a  delicious  tingle."^ 

This  fine  passage  explains  very  well  the  claim  of  I^ature  upon 
human  nature.  Increasingly  modern  employments  have  denied 
expression  to  the  instincts.  Ross  suggests  that  a  methodical  study 
be  made  of  occupations  to  determine  to  what  extent  they  accord 
with  or  go  against  the  grain  of  our  natural  dispositions.  Of 
course  the  situation  is  easier  for  the  man  who  operates  his  own 
business  because  his  quest  of  success  provides  situations  which 
stir  his  emulative,  fighting  and  constructive  instincts. 

We  are  told  that  the  want  of  recreation  drives  to  vice.  No 
people  have  been  more  destitute  of  amusement  than  the  Chinese. 
The  opium  habit  is  the  result.  The  monotony  of  factory  or  pack- 
ing-house labor  coupled  wnth  the  dinginess  of  home  life  induces 
the  drink  and  'drug  habits.  Dullness  of  existence  is  one  of  the 
causes  of  prostitution.  Eoss  suggests  three  methods  for  dealing 
with  unsocial  recreational  tendencies,  suppression,  substitution, 
and  sublimation. 

Suppression  has  been  tried  the  most  but  with  bad  results, 
becaused  based  upon  a  misconception  of  human  nature.  Substi- 
tution, working  by  means  of  playgrounds,  sports,  group  dances 

1  Principles  of  Sociology,  p.  607. 


EDUCATION  IN  KECENT  SOCIOLOGY  49 

and  pageantry,  lias  remarkable  promise  for  elevating  world 
civilization.  "The  four  thousand  supervised  playgrounds  in  the 
United  States,  looked  after  by  nine  thousand  professional  leaders 
and  supervisors,  have  weaned  great  numbers  of  lads  from  mis- 
chief-making, broken  up  "tough"  gangs,  and  overcome  slum  ten- 
dencies. Athletic  contests  have  driven  the  bull  fight  from  Hispanic 
peoples  under  American  influence  .  .  .  Under  the  lead  of 
American  officials  the  wild  Igorrotes  of  Luzon  have  learned  to 
divert  themselves  with  athletic  contests  and  dancing  instead  of 
head-hunting.  At  first  the  savage  bystanders  would  stone  the  too- 
skillful  pitcher  of  a  visiting  team  and  match  games  often  broke 
up  in  a  free  fight;  but  the  onlooking  Americans  and  the  police 
checked  such  tendencies  and  now  the  Igorrotes  are  said  to  be  good 
sportsmen.  In  China,  as  opium  smoking  declines,  sport  comes 
in  with  a  rush  and  thousands  of  Chinese  make  long  journeys  by 
train  in  order  to  attend  the  national  meets.  In  the  light  of  ex- 
perience it  does  not  seem  rash  to  anticipate  that  bullfight  and 
cockfight,  opium  debauch  and  vinous  "spree"  every  ghoulish 
orgy  of  religious  fanaticism,  and  every  obscene  or  bloody  rite 
in  Asiatic  temples,  may  be  displaced  in  a  generation  or  two  by 
ball  games  and  track  meets,  folk-dancing  and  symbolic  pageants, 
if  only  in  public  supervised  recreation  centers  all  the  children 
are  bred  to  merry  and  wholesome  plays."^ 

The  third  method,  sublimation,  is  based  upon  the  fact  that  our 
natural  cravings  may  find  gratification  within  the  imagination. 
Instead  of  arousing  emotions  issuing  in  harmful  reactions,  we 
substitute  situations  known  to  be  unreal  which  can  induce  only 
play-emotions.  This  is  the  function  of  art.  "It  is  the  mission 
of  literature  and  art  to  create  means  of  satisfying  our  repressed 
desires  wholly  within  the  mind,  thereby  giving  them  a  fuller  or 
less  costly  scope  than  we  dare  to  give  them  in  real  life.  The  relief 
of  the  soul  by  art  or  sport  so  resembles  that  of  the  body  by  a  cathar- 
tic that  the  Greek  thinkers  called  it  katharsis  or  purgation.""  But 
art  does  much  more  than  relieve  the  soul.     It  broadens  our  vision 

1  Principles  of  Sociology,  p.  015. 

2  Ibid,  p.  44. 


50  EDUCATION  IN  KECENT  SOCIOLOGY 

of  human  life.  It  makes  us  aware  of  unseen  possibilities  in  our 
own  lives.  It  gives  us  zest.  It  shakes  us  out  of  the  humdrum 
of  existence  to  renewed  vigor  in  a  quest  of  the  worth-while. 

Since  art,  meaning  music,  sculpture,  the  drama,  the  moving 
picture,  is  so  vital  in  the  life  of  a  people,  we  must  give  heed  to 
Ross's  warning  of  its  present  commercialized  condition.  Com- 
mercialization means  "the  increasing  subjection  of  any  calling 
or  function  to  the  profits  motive."  We  are  told  that  the  manipu- 
lations of  certain  "monument  associations"  conducted  for  gain 
throttle  the  artistic  ambitions  of  the  young  sculptor.  Even  the 
great  actor  has  become  today  but  an  employee  of  an  amusement 
corporation.  Commercialized  recreation  is  developing  a  demand 
for  coarse  pleasure  because  it  sees  "more  money  can  be  extracted 
from  young  people  by  offering  them  the  high-flavored,  the  risque, 
the  sensational,  than  by  offering  them  the  pure  and  elevating." 

In  several  important  respects  society  has  shaken  off  the  fetters 
of  commercialization.  A  dowry,  or  "marriage  portion,"  was  once 
essential  to  the  marriage  contract.  In  America  today  mating  is 
largely  free  from  the  taint  of  avarice.  It  required  years  of 
struggle  to  lift  the  ministrations  of  religion  and  of  government 
out  of  the  market  place.  We  are  now  faced  with  the  problem 
of  de-commercializing  recreation.  The  community  provision  of 
recreation  which  has  already  succeeded  in  some  places  is  the 
most  hopeful  sign  that  this  field  is  not  be  abandoned  to  mammon. 

(d)  Sociology  is  a  new  science  and  has  been  little  influenced 
by  tradition.  Tradition  has  dominated  education.  Today  this 
is  especially  true  of  the  education  of  girls.  Only  recently  did 
we  begin  to  educate  girls  at  all,  and  then  we  assumed  that  what 
was  best  for  the  boy  was  likewise  best  for  the  girl.  Four  years 
of  high  school  followed  by  four  years  of  college  became  the  estab- 
lished regime,  and  the  girl  was  allowed  to  participate  in  this 
sacred  order  of  things.  Today  the  number  of  women  seeking 
higher  education  promises  to  exceed  the  male  element.  The  high 
school  population  already  shows  an  excess  of  females  and  the 
number  of  women  in  colleges  is  rapidly  increasing.     In  this  con- 


EDUCATION"  IN  EECENT  SOCIOLOGY  51 

dition  the  sociologist  sees  important  consequences  for  society  as 
it  affects  the  parentage  of  future  generations. 

In  the  chapter  on  Selection  we  are  told  that,  "College  women 
marry  two  years  later  than  non-college  women  of  the  same  social 
class  and  for  this  class  marriage  occurs  two  or  three  years  later 
than  for  women  in  general.  Furthermore,  only  one  out  of  two 
college  women  marries,  whereas  in  the  general  population  nine 
women  out  of  ten  marry.  Moreover,  the  average  number  of 
children  born  to  a  married  alumna  of  our  famous  women's  col- 
leges in  no  case  runs  as  high  as  two,  and  for  some  colleges  the 
average  is  less  than  one."^  Ross  assumes  that  the  colleges  are 
recruited  from  among  the  brightest  fifteen  or  twenty  per  cent,  of 
each  generation  of  girls.  And  since  the  college  woman's  chances 
of  bearing  progeny  are  greatly  below  those  of  her  non-collegiate 
sister,  it  follows  that  the  increasing  college  attendance  of  women 
is  having  the  effect  of  lowering  the  native  ability  of  the  race. 

Speaking  as  eugenist  the  sociologist  makes  two  recommendations. 
First,  women  should  graduate  from  college  at  the  age  of  twenty. 
This  could  be  accomplished  by  eliminating  superfluous  things 
from  the  curriculum  and  by  better  teaching  methods  especially 
in  early  grades.  This  change  would  assure  early  and  more 
numerous  marriages  among  college  graduates.  Second,  mother- 
hood must  be  recognized  and  honored  as  a  career.  "Brilliant 
girls  covet  careers  because  the  career  is  honored.  Many  of  them 
would  be  content  as  mothers  if  motherhood  were  equally  honored. 
But  this  is  impossible  until  superior  motherhood  is  differentiated 
from  commonplace  motherhood,  which  in  turn  awaits  a  marking 
system  by  which  superior  children  can  be  discriminated  from 
commonplace  children. "- 

Eugenic  considerations  likewise  furnish  a  strong  argument  for 
the  married  school  teacher.  The  school  board  policy  of  enforcing 
celibacy  upon  that  superior  type  of  women  who  compose  the 
teaching  body  cannot  be  good  for  the  race.     "The  courts  should 

1  Principles  of  Sociology,  p.  392. 

2  Ibid,  p.  393. 


52  EDUCATION  IN  KECENT  SOCIOLOGY 

uphold  the  woman  teacher's  right  to  marry  and  bear  children 
without  forfeiture  of  position." 

(e)  Ross's  sociology  must  convince  the  most  conservative  of 
the  vital  need  of  social  science  in  all  grades  of  the  educational 
system.  ^Yhat  is  especially  needed  is  to  develop  the  power  of 
critical  thinking  in  human  affairs ;  also  to  turn  the  search  light  of 
social  intelligence  on  existing  conditions.  In  the  chapter  on  Ossi- 
fication we  find  how  rigidly  an  ancient  practice  or  institution 
becomes  fixed  in  the  public  esteem.  'The  first  users  scanning 
with  a  cold  or  critical  eye,  will  modify  or  abandon  it  if  it  does 
not  suit  their  purpose.  But  after  it  has  been  taken  over  and 
worked  by  a  later  generation  which  has  feelings  about  it,  it 
loses  its  plasticity,  turns  to  bone,  as  it  were."^  There  are  several 
causes  of  ossification.  Most  of  us  are  mentally  lazy.  We  shun 
complex  problems  which  require  sustained  thinking.  Although 
social  progTess  is  a  popular  subject  for  discussion  very  few  will 
inconvenience  themselves  for  its  sake.  Static  conceptions  of 
society  prevail  in  spite  of  the  many  economic  and  social  changes 
constantly  in  progress.  And  again,  the  interests  of  individuals 
become  dependent  upon  the  fixed  order.  For  example,  "For 
thirty  years  religious  leaders  have  urged  that  economics  and  so- 
ciology be  a  part  of  the  training  for  the  Christian  ministry. 
With  rare  exceptions,  however,  the  theological  seminaries  have 
done  nothing,  owing  to  the  vested  interests  of  the  professors  of 
the  traditional  subjects.  As  a  result  the  clergy  are  steadily 
losing  influence  because  of  their  ignorance  of  the  burning  moral 
issues  of  the  time."^  To  prevent  ossification  we  need  to  take  a 
critical  attitude  towards  our  customs  and  institutions.  "Each 
generation  ought  to  review  all  the  institutions  they  inherit,  and 
consider  of  each  whether  it  is  still  at  the  peak  of  fitness." 

Success,  however  egotistical,  has  been  held  up  for  the  emula- 
tion of  youth.  In  the  chapter  on  Equalization  we  are  told  that 
reflective  thinking  will  give  us  a  juster  appraisal  of  the  suc- 
cessful.    Has  a  man's  success  advanced  or  retarded  human  wel- 

1  PrinciplPS  of  Sociology,  p.  502. 

2  Ibid,  p.  504. 


EDUCATION  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY  53 

fare?  This  is  a  question  for  serious  concern  in  our  school  his- 
tories and  literature,  since  these  fix  ideals  in  the  minds  of  the 
young.  We  also  need  a  shattering  of  the  prestige  given  to  the 
mere  possession  of  wealth.  "From  the  social  point  of  view,  the 
envied  idle  rich  not  only  have  no  claim  to  special  consideration, 
but  appear  as  the  drones  of  a  hive,  the  camp  followers  of  an  army, 
the  stowaways  of  a  ship,  the  deadbeats  of  a  business  .  .  .  What 
the  heir  consumes  costs  the  toil  and  sweat  of  his  contemporaries; 
so  that  society  may  well  say  to  him,  'This  is  what  we  are  doing 
for  you;  now  what  are  you  doing  for  us?"^  The  principle  that 
every  man,  neither  sick  nor  imbecile,  shall  produce  at  least  to  the 
extent  he  consumes,  will  one  day  be  recognized  as  fundamental 
in  rational  social  organization.  Enlightened  revisions  of  what 
constitutes  success  and  honor,  the  association  of  these  wholly  with 
social  service,  are  inevitable  with  the  diffusion  of  social  knowledge. 

(f )  What  should  be  the  relation  of  the  school  to  the  government 
has  become  a  vital  issue  in  educational  administration.  Ross 
contends  that  the  school  should  be  under  independent  control.  The 
success  of  the  Kaiser's  government  in  deliberately  moulding  Ger- 
man opinion  to  its  ovni  ends  by  means  of  the  school  is  sufficient 
warning.  Today  the  State,  charged  with  new  functions,  is  be- 
coming more  powerful.  Laissez  faire  is  dead.  With  its  added 
bulk  and  prestige  it  is  especially  necessary  that  the  governmental 
machine  yield  readily  to  the  will  of  the  people.  It  must  never 
be  permitted  to  control  public  opinion.  The  school  as  the  mother 
and  moulder  of  opinion  should  be  independent  of  government.  A 
non-partisan  board  of  education  should  have  the  power  to  levy 
taxes  for  the  support  of  schools  and  not  have  to  beg  funds  from 
a  political  body,  either  city  council  or  state  legislature.  "]^ow 
that  the  State  is  gathering  mass  and  momentum,  the  School  should 
stand  wholly  on  its  own  bottom,  lest  the  State  tamper  with  the 
holy  functions  of  enlightenment,  character-moulding,  nnd  opin- 
ion forming.  "- 

1  Ibid,  p.  384. 

2  Ibid,  p.  437. 


54  EDUCATION  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY 

(g)  Of  Professor  Ross's  earlier  works  mention  should  be  made 
of  the  Social  Psychology.  That  human  groups  are  highly  sus- 
ceptible to  suggestion  and  imitation,  the  main  themes  elaborated  in 
this  volume,  is  a  fact  of  deep  interest  to  the  educator.  The  chap- 
ters on  Mob  Mind  and  the  means  of  checking  it  are  pertinent  espe- 
cially today  when  mob  mind  means  more  than  the  condition  of  an 
agitated  group  at  one  place.  A  crowd  under  the  sway  of  feeling, 
bent  upon  the  accomplishment  of  some  end,  the  killing  of  a  man, 
the  destruction  of  a  building,  exhibits  mob  mind.  It  may  likewise 
occur  under  the  excitements  of  a  religious  revival  or  political  con- 
vention. On  such  occasions  one's  normal  reasoning  powers  are  sus- 
pended, and  individuality  is  lost  while  merged  with  the  crowd. 
This  has  been  true  of  man  since  he  ran  in  packs  in  prehuman  days. 
But  today  as  never  before  mass  suggestion  affects  persons  far  apart. 
The  telegraph,  the  fast  mail,  the  numerous  editions  of  the  news- 
paper are  the  instruments  for  the  rapid  spread  of  suggestion  and 
feeling,  an  extension  of  mob  mind  over  large  areas.  After  the 
destruction  of  the  Maine  in  Havana  Harbor  the  demand  for  ven- 
geance was  general  over  the  country,  and  only  the  cool-headed 
were  satisfied  to  await  the  report  of  official  enquiry  into  the  cause 
of  the  explosion.  Deliberate  and  wide  spread  propaganda  is  easier 
today  than  ever  before.  How  are  we  to  protect  ourselves  against 
these  streams  of  suggestion,  against  shallow  conclusions,  against 
floods  of  mass  feeling  ?  In  the  chapter  "Prophylactics  against  Mob 
Mind"  more  than  a  dozen  suggestions  are  made,  but  space  limits 
us  to  brief  mention  of  the  first  four.  Higher  education  which 
equips  a  student  with  tests  of  objective  truth  is  protection  against 
many  forms  of  delusion.  Scientific  education  at  any  grade  will 
have  this  tendency.  Familiarity  with  the  world's  great  classics, 
acquaintaince  with  the  intellectual  kings  of  the  human  race,  is  a 
■bulwark  against  the  deceit  of  false  prophets.  The  influence  of 
high  grade  teachers  will  throw  the  student  on  his  own  resources  and 
ripen  his  individuality.  The  study  of  the  sciences  of  hygiene,  psy- 
chology and  sociology  is  especially  recommended,  "for  body,  mind 
and  society  are  the  storm  centers  of  faddism,  the  breeding  ground 


EDUCATION  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY 


55 


of  manias.  To  be  folly-proof  here  is  to  be  fortified  against  nine- 
tenths  of  the  higher  foolishness.  The  reason  why  cranks  haunt 
these  three  to^^ics  is  that  they  are  of  supreme  human  interest.  The 
prizes  that  can  be  held  out  for  the  adoption  of  the  Kneipp  cure, 
theosophy,  or  some  social  Utopia  are  the  most  desired  things  in  the 
world — immunity  from  disease,  from  sin,  and  from  poverty."  In 
brief,  it  is  the  increasing  sway  of  scientific  education  alone  which 
can  be  depended  upon  to  check  the  baneful  influences  of  mass 
suffs'cstion  or  mob  mind. 


56  EDUCATION  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY 

VI. 

EDWARD  GARY  HAYES. 

*3HmHiiiiiDiiHiiiimit|Ej^jj^pg  ^^Q  jjjogt  (jirect  approach  to  the  place  of 

I       Y\       I  Education  in  the  sociology  of  Professor  Hayes  is 

I       W^       I  in   his   treatment  of   social  control.     In  order  to 

I                   I  live  a  harmonious  life,  in  fact,  ir  order  to  secure 

liiimmiiiioniHimiiicI  any  degree  of  integrated  life  whatever,  a  group  of 

I                   I  human  beings  must  have  certain  methods  or  agen- 

1                   I  cies  of  control.     These  are  necessary  for  co-opera- 

4>3iniriiiiiiiDiiiiiiuiii[<i>  ^^^^  ^^^  solidarity.     Without  them  the  group  will 

disintegrate  or  degenerate  in  unending  conflict.  Man  has  instincts 
and  natural  traits  upon  which  as  a  basis  the  agencies  of  control 
are  built.  In  fact,  for  a  primitive  form  of  social  organization, 
these  natural  traits  themselves  may  be  the  main  bonds  of  social 
cohesion.  Sociability,  the  love  of  one's  kind,  imitation,  fear  of 
the  enemy,  are  natural  characteristics  which  cement  together 
primitive  groups.  The  same  thing  is  true  of  personal  groups  among 
ourselves.  Personal  contact  with  others  stimulates  our  sympathy, 
altruism,  sense  of  justice,  and  feelings  of  loyalty  to  common  inter- 
ests. J^atural  traits  therefore  suffice  for  a  degree  of  harmony  and 
solidarity  in  personal  groups.  But  civilized  nations  are  too  vast 
for  personal  associations.  The  "we"  groups  in  which  each  person 
mingles  are  usually  but  infinitesimal  portions  of  the  total  popula- 
tion. What  hope  is  there  for  developing  sympathy  and  solidarity 
among  great  groups  of  people,  most  of  whom  will  never  meet  each 
other  in  personal  ways  ?  What  prospects  are  -ihere  for  harmony 
and  co-operation  over  large  areas  ?  The  answer  is,  that  agencies 
of  control  must  be  devised,  and  while  these  utilize  natural  traits 
and  instincts,  they  must  go  much  beyond  them  in  intricacy  and 
elaborateness. 

"Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Sociology ' '  and  "Sociology  and  Ethics ' '  are  the  two  books 
published  by  Professor  Hayes  which  supply  data  for  this  study. 


EDUCATION  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY  57 

As  a  society  grows  in  numbers  and  coirplexity,  increasing 
elaborateness  in  the  machinery  of  control  muso  follow.  In  a  per- 
sonal gi'oiip  the  consequences  of  contact  are  iimnediate  and  appar- 
ent. In  a  developed  society  the  causal  connection  between  an 
action  and  its  consequences  is  likely  to  be  i  emote  and  obscure. 
There  are  dairy  owners  and  real  estate  promoters,  for  example, 
who  would  instinctively  recoil  at  the  thought  of  committing  mur- 
der, but  whose  cupidity  and  neglect  result  in  the  death  of  many 
from  impure  milk  and  contagion-reeking  tenements.  Likewise  the 
trust  magnate,  generous  to  his  personal  folio  sving  and  pridefuUy 
honest  in  ordinary  business  dealings,  may  nol  hesitate  to  manipu- 
late the  values  of  securities  though  the  result  be  the  filching  away 
■of  the  painfully  accumulated  savings  of  the  poor.  It  is  evident 
that  an  advanced  society  affords  gigantic  opportunities  for  de- 
structive conduct  from  which  no  instinctive  impulse  restrains,  and 
it  likewise  affords  opportunity  for  great  good  to  which  no  instinc- 
tive impulse  prompts.  To  avoid  the  evil  and  promote  the  good  the 
turbulent  current  of  human  impulse  must  be  "redirected  by  dikes 
and  channels  that  have  been  laid  down  by  careful  engineering  and 
that  require  incessant  labor  to  keep  them  in  I'epair."  These  dikes 
and  channels,  which  are  social  products  rsther  than  instinctive 
possessions,  are  the  means  of  control.  The  power  of  their  steady 
influence  is  likely  to  be  overlooked.  "In  times  of  peace  and  in 
well-bred  society  the  course  of  life  runs  on  so  smoothly  that  it 
resembles  the  unjarring  movement  of  the  earth  on  its  axis  and  in  its 
orbit,  and  it  may  never  occur  to  the  mind  that  cataclysmic  forces 
are  held  in  bonds  by  the  unremitting  gravitation  of  social  control."^ 

We  have  seen  w^hat  social  control  means.  According  to  Hayes 
there  are  two  types  of  control  which  society  relies  upon  to  secure 
its  aims.  The  first  is  control  by  sanctions,  which  means  by  rewards 
and  punishments.  The  second  type  is  contiol  by  social  suggestion, 
sympathetic  radiation,  and  imitation.  The  latter  arc  the  three 
main  forms  of  human  association,  or  main  modes  by  which  persons 
are  related  to  one  another.  They  may  be  defined  briefly  as  fol- 
lows.    Social  suggestion  is  the  relation  in  which  the  idea  of  one 

1  Intro,  to  the  Study  of  Sociology,  p.  585. 


58  EDUCATION  IN  EECENT  SOCIOLOGY 

associate  becomes  known  to  the  other,  and  this  may  be  either  by 
direct  telling  or  by  inference  from  observation  of  the  other's  be- 
havior. Man  is  imique  in  possessing  this  characteristic.  ^'The  hu- 
man organism  is  a  mechanism  adapted  to  function  under  the  stim- 
ulation of  ideas.  That  is  the  key  to  the  life  history  of  man  and 
society,  in  so  far  as  that  mystery  can  be  anlocked  with  any  one 
key."^  Sympathetic  radiation  implies  that  feelings  and  senti- 
ments manifested  by  one  person  evoke  siriilar  feelings  and  senti- 
ments in  others.  Its  part  in  character  molding  is  immense.  "Most 
of  the  definite  sentiments,  which  are  popularly  regarded  as  instinc- 
tive, are  in  reality  caught  by  social  radiaiion  from  the  society  by 
which  we  are  surrounded  from  our  infaicy."  Imitation  means 
that  the  overt  practice  of  one  is  practiced  by  the  other.  It  is  of 
course  a  factor  of  enormous  importance  in  constructing  and  per- 
petuating uniformity  in  social  usages. 

The  first  type  of  social  control  elicits  and  represses  particular 
actions,  it  is  control  from  without.  The  second  establishes  general 
dispositions,  more  permanent  inner  tendencies.  Social  life  is 
primarily  psychic  and  this  type  of  control  gives  to  society  its 
psychic  basis.  Social  suggestion,  sympathetic  radiation,  and  imi- 
tation are  identified  by  Professor  Hayes  with  education.  We  have 
therefore  reached  the  heart  of  our  problem.  Education  is  the  maia 
means  of  control.  Of  course  this  implies  a  definition  of  educa- 
tion much  broader  than  that  of  the  schocl.  It  includes  all  human 
association,  in  fact  all  social  contacts  mast  be  recognized  as  parts 
of  a  process  of  education.  "ISTot  merely  are  we  molded  during  the 
plastic  years  of  childhood,  but  through  Dut  life  our  activities  are 
repressed  or  elicited  or  directed  by  the  past,  present  and  antici- 
pated activities  of  our  associates."^ 

At  the  beginning  of  the  argument  we  found  that  agencies  of 
social  control  have  the  effect  of  bringing  order  and  solidarity  to  a 
group.  A  civilized  society  however  can  regard  these  conditions  as 
but  means  to  some  further  ends.  In  fact,  the  highly  developed 
civilisation  is  able  to  establish  means  of  control  that  will  rationally 
influence  the  trend  of  the  social  process  in  the  direction  of  some 

1  Ibid,  p.  311. 

2  Ibid,  p.  418. 


EDUCATION  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY  59 

selected  goal.  A  supreme  end  as  the  goal  of  conduct  for  both 
individual  and  society  is  as  necessary  to  rational  development  a3 
is  a  destination  for  a  ship.  What  is  1he  social  ultimate?  ''The 
ultimate  aim  of  social  control  and  of  ill  rational  endeavor  is  to 
secure  the  completest  and  most  harmonious  realization  of  good 
human  experience,  regarded  as  an  end  in  itself."^  Ward  found 
the  end  in  collective  happiness;  Hayes  says,  in  good  human 
experience. 

Having  established  good  human  experience  as  the  aim  of  social 
control  and  of  rational  effort  the  question  arises  what  are  the  means 
available,  or  what  steps  can  be  taken,  for  its  realization.  We  have 
seen  that  we  cannot  depend  upon  instincts.  Fortunately,  how- 
ever, we  have  found  the  main  means  of  control  to  lie  in  education ; 
so  the  problem  becomes  that  of  uniting  social  control  and  enlight- 
enment. Such  union  depends  on  whether  men  can  be  adequately 
influenced  by  considerations  of  wider  values,  on  "whether  reason 
can  either  dominate  instinct,  or  enlist  the  responses  of  instinct 
in  service  of  wider  aims.  ...  It  depends  also  upon  whether  the 
pressures  of  social  approval  and  disapproval  will  adequately 
supplement  private  conscience.  .  .  .  The  world  is  inevitably  com- 
mitted to  the  experiment  of  uniting  control  with  enlightenment.  .  . 
And  the  success  of  this  experiment  of  human  society  depends  upon 
converting  life  into  team  work,  into  a  co-operative  enterprise."^ 

Evidently  an  enlightened  control  must  depend  upon  the  elicit- 
ing of  personal  qualities  and  dispositions,  because  it  is  in  person- 
ality that  we  find  the  ultimate  basis  of  social  order.  The  problem 
of  social  control  and  therefore  of  education  is  to  convert  each  per- 
son's instincts  and  propensities  into  dispositions  to  acts  which  will 
yield  the  highest  correlation  between  individual  satisfactions  and 
social  service.  We  need  to  develop  a  type  of  person  actively  com- 
mitted to  participation  in  co-operative  undertakings. 

The  attainment  of  an  enlightened  order  of  humanity  depends 
upon  the  prevalence  of  this  requisite  type  of  personality.  What  is 
the  desired  type?  I^umerous  characteristics  could  be  given  as 
highly  desirable.     Hayes  selects  four  traits  which  age-long  exper- 

1  Ibid,  p  586.  An  analysis  of  pood  human  experience  as  tli^  aim  of  the  individual  and 
collective  life  is  adequately  worked  out  iu  the  recent  volume  Sociology  and  Kthics,  particu- 
larly in  chapters  7  and  8  on  Social  Values. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  587. 


60  EDUCATION  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY 

ience  has  demonstrated  to  be  the  universal  essentials.  The  first  is 
reliability  or  honesty,  for  no  society  can  prosper  on  dishonesty. 
The  average  human  being  is  born  with  a  tendency  to  craft  and  it 
will  be  used  at  least  outside  of  his  immediate  partisan  groups  un- 
less a  sense  of  honor  is  acquired.  The  second  is  temperance  which 
means  among  other  things  the  control  of  animalism.  Of  course 
normal  appetites  are  not  evil  in  themselves,  but  they  are  easily 
perverted.  Consider  the  perversion  of  the  sex  instinct.  "The 
multitudes  who  escape  this  peril  do  so  not  by  a  gift  of  nature  but 
by  virtue  of  an  acquired  trait,  a  sentiment  stronger  than  instinct 
inculcated  by  society  as  the  result  of  countless  bitter  lessons. 
Though  in  well-reared  characters  the  defenses  are  built  so  high  and 
strong,  still  society  must  rebuild  them  with  every  generation ; 
because  desire  for  physical  pleasure  is  so  strong  and  because  social 
tolerance  can  make  anything  seem  right.  Every  society  has  still 
some  customs  that  are  like  low  weak  places  in  the  dikes."^  The 
third  essential  trait  of  character  is  steadiness,  steadiness  in  endea- 
vor. The  savage  and  the  child  tire  quickly  of  work.  The  youth 
must  be  taught  not  to  flinch  before  the  irksome  task  when  there  i-^ 
necessity  for  doing  it. 

The  fourth  of  the  traits  considered  indispensable  in  members 
of  a  developed  society  is  justice,  which  is  identified  with  the  social 
spirit.  Although  justice  has  an  instinctive  basis,  this  spirit  is 
largely  the  product  of  reason,  and  "the  reasoning  which  is  the 
foundation  of  justice  has  for  its  major  premise  the  fact  that  the 
values  of  life  are  real  by  whomsoever  experienced,"  an  idea  which 
resembles  Todd's  insistence  that  we  project  ourselves  into  the  lives 
of  others  by  means  of  our  imaginations.  It  is  the  requirement  of 
reason  and  therefore  of  the  social  spirit  that  we  estimate  at  par 
the  value  of  every  life  we  touch,  that  we  recognize  others'  interests 
to  be  as  important  as  our  own.  And  while  a  man's  immediate 
responsibility  is  for  those  nearest  to  him  because  he  has  more  power 
over  them,  it  includes  all  to  whom  his  influence  extends.  "The 
demand  of  reason  is  that  he  should  so  spend  his  energies  as  to 
produce  the  greatest  net  increase  of  human  values,  whether  those 

2  Ibid.,  p.  591. 


EDUCATION  IX  EECENT  SOCIOLOGY  61 

values  are  realized  in  his  own  experience  or  in  the  experience  of 
others."  These  considerations  lead  to  a  rule  of  conduct  put  in  a 
form  suggested  by  the  Kantian  Ethics.  The  rule  is:  "I  for  one 
will  so  play  my  part  that  if  all  played  their  part  in  the  same  spirit 
the  good  possibilities  of  society  would  be  fulfilled."^  Even  in  the 
present  stage  of  social  evolution  the  individual  may  live  in  the 
spirit  of  this  rule.  The  fact  that  some  do  and  others  do  not  con- 
stitutes "the  line  between  the  sheep  and  the  goats."  Obviously 
justice  is  a  broad  concept.  It  includes  every  virtue.  Negatively 
it  forbids  the  infliction  of  injuries  and  positively  it  summons  every 
one  to  strive  for  the  supreme  goal,  which  we  found  to  be  the  in- 
crease of  good  human  experience. 

The  important  question  is  whether  the  above  reasoned  conclu- 
sions can  be  converted  into  sentiments  with  impelling  power.     Can 
they  become  settled  principles  so  as  to  function  in  the  heat  of  life 
when  contrary  impulses  are  strong?     Can  they  become  the  com- 
mon sense  of  the  multitude  ?     Can  the  four  essential  traits  become 
established  in  the  responses  of  human  nature,  become  a  "second 
nature,"  and  thereby  make  a  highly  developed  society  possible? 
Let    us    mention    some    of    the    grounds    suggested    by    Hayes  s 
sociology  for  the  belief  that  it  is  possible  and  wholly  feasible.     In 
the  first  place,  a  new  type  of  mores  is  attainable.     Comparative 
sociology  studies  the  mental  attitudes  and  customs  of  many  typos 
of  social  life  past  and  present.     This  study  of  the  mores  reveals  a 
surprising  variety  of  ideals  and  practices.     "It  is  necessary  for  us 
to  learn  that  'human  nature'  determines  only  within  wide  limits 
what  men  shall  regard  as  beautiful,  what  things  they  shall  desire, 
what  ambitions  they  shall  pursue,  or  what  they  shall  regard  as  right 
or  wrong.    That  is  to  say,  it  leaves  undetermined,  save  within  wide 
limits,  what  their  character  and  content  of  life  and  personality 
shall  be.     We  have  seen  that  human  nature  does  not  prevent  men 
from  seeing  beauty  in  yellow  cheeks  and  eyes  aslant  and  blackened 
teeth  and  feet  deformed  to  lumps  and  beards  dyed  in  bright  colors, 
or  from  regarding  the  eating  of  a  dead  parent's  body  as  a  seemly 
mark  of  respect ;  that  social  influence  does  more  than  human  nature 

1  Ibid.,  p.  594. 


■62  EDUCATION  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY 

to  determine  musical  preference  for  a  bedlam  of  squawks,  squeals, 
clangs  and  bangs,  or  for  simple  melodies,  or  for  the  intricate  har- 
mony and  subharmonies  of  Wagner ;  that  birth  from  a  rake  called 
a  duke,  or  ability  to  pound  an  opponent's  face,  may  at  one  time 
and  place  set  a  man  higher  in  social  regard  than  virtue  coupled 
with  ordinary  or  even  extraordinary  usefulness,  and  at  other  times 
and  places  have  no  such  power;  that  social  molding  can  build  con- 
sciences that  approve  not  only  of  slavery,  as  did  many  of  the  most 
Christian  and  most  charming  people  in  America  till  recently,  and 
polygamy,  as  Abraham  and  a  majority  of  the  wise  and  good  men 
of  the  past  have  done,  but  also  infanticide,  human  sacrifice,  killing 
the  aged,  and  wife-lending  as  a  duty  of  hospitality ;  'that  the  mores 
can  make  anything  seem  right. '^  Human  beings  will  suffer 
deprivations  and  j)ain  for  the  sake  of  established  modes  of  behavior, 
however  irrational  some  of  these  appear  to  us  to  be.  Human  sen- 
timents are  diverse  and  impel  to  various  ends.  But  the  mores  as 
readily  provide  a  basis  for  the  higher  type  of  social  life ;  they  pro- 
vide increasingly  for  honest  practices,  temperate  living,  for  the 
social  spirit,  for  co-operative  endeavor.  Sentiments  may  be  builfc 
up  issuing  in  the  expression  of  what  we  found  to  be  the  essential 
traits  of  the  socialized  man. 

The  direction  of  ambition  is  socially  determined.  A  man 
measures  his  success  and  worth  by  the  standards  set  up  in  the 
group.  The  individual  responds  to  what  society  values.  "What- 
ever society  adequately  appreciates,  society  will  get,  up  to  the  very- 
limits  of  human  possibility,  whether  it  be  prizefighters,  money- 
kings,  scientists,  or  constructive  statesmen.  'Ro  other  reform  is 
so  fundamental  as  a  shifting  of  emphasis  in  social  valuations."^ 
The  strong  will  seek  expression  in  intelligent  social  service  whe7i 
society  extends  its  highest  approval  to  that  type  of  career.  Simi- 
larly conscience  codes  are  wholly  matters  of  the  social  environ- 
ment. Conscience  itself  is  not  inborn  although  every  normal  per- 
son is  gifted  with  the  capacity  to  develop  one.  Only  environing 
influence  or  education  can  determine  what  the  content  of  his  con- 

1  Uiid.,  p.  664. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  666. 


EDUCATION  IN  EECENT  SOCIOLOGY  03 

science  shall  be.  History  reveals  amazing  changes  in  conscience 
codes.  "A  few  centuries  ago  an  ambitions  Dane  would  say  to  his 
neighbor:  'Come,  I  have  a  good  boat,  let  us  sail  to  a  village  down 
the  coast  and  burn  it,  carry  off  the  fairest  of  the  women,  pillage 
the  church,  plunder  the  houses,  and  live  all  the  rest  of  our  days 
in  comfort  and  become,  besides,  the  most  respected  men  of  this 
region.'  And  after  the  exploit  they  would  return  to  their  admir- 
ing friends  singing  of  their  o^vn  glory  as  'wolves'  and  'sea  thieves'." 
Compare  such  behavior  with  that  of  their  descendants  in  the  in- 
telligent and  peaceful  Denmark  of  today !  "It  is  not  too  much  to 
anticipate  that  our  descendants  will  look  upon  the  ethical  code 
that  measures  business  success  by  acquisition  rather  than  by  pro- 
duction much  as  we  now  regard  the  code  of  the  vikings."^ 

"We  should  note  further  the  variability  of  human  nature,  the 
second  nature  into  which  it  matures,  its  unmeasured  possibilities, 
its  diversified  latencies.  "The  principle  of  the  wide  variability 
of  each  individual  within  the  limits  set  by  nature — the  fact  that 
there  is  in  each  normal  child  a  generous  assortment  of  unrealized 
possibilities  inviting  any  one  of  numerous  careers,  including 
material  for  devil  and  saint,  savage  or  social  flower;  the  truth  that 
interests,  tastes,  ambitions  and  conscience  vary  in  response  to 
social  conditions  as  really  as  language  and  as  widely  as  the  contrast 
between  the  Chinese  or  Algonquin  language  and  our  o-wn — this 
momentous  principle  is  one  of  the  words  that  sociology  has  for  the 
guidance  of  education."^ 

Another  reason  for  courage  in  the  anticipation  of  a  co-operative 
society  is  in  the  fact  that  the  ideal  society  invites  expression  of 
individuality  rather  than  repression  of  it.  In  fact,  "interests, 
appreciations  and  powers,  though  primarily  they  are  developed 
capacities  for  individual  experience,  are  also  essential  to  society." 
A  normal  hunger  is  the  condition  of  the  human  mind.  It  will 
be  occupied  with  something  whether  trivial  or  useful,  noble  or 
base.  Its  appetite  seeks  knowledge  of  human  kind,  biograi)hy, 
anecdote,  history,  or  neighborhood  gossip.  Its  interest  extends 
to  physical  nature,  seas  and  mountains,  beasts  and  birds,  trees  and 

1  Sociology  and  Ethics,  p.  184. 


64 


EDUCATION  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY 


flowers ;  also  to  man's  material  accomplishments,  engineering  works 
and  cities.  This  hunger  must  be  developed  into  wholesome  in- 
terests to  reduce  the  humdrum  of  the  average  life.  ''There  is  no 
necessity  that  the  life  of  any  normal  being  should  revolve  in  a 
petty  orbit,  from  the  work  bench  to  the  dinner  table,  to  the  barber 
shop,  to  bed  and  back  to  the  work  bench."  It  is  the  empty  life  that 
breeds  discontent.  Unsatisfied  hunger  leads  to  nervous  disorders^ 
possibly  to  anarchy.  This  plea  of  the  sociologist  for  a  principle 
similar  to  the  Ilerbartian  many-sided  interest  has  its  end  not 
merely  in  the  individual's  fulfillment.  It  is  a  recognition  that  the 
individual's  interests  and  expression  are  essential  to  social  har- 
mony, that  the  development  of  men's  tastes,  of  what  they  like, 
is  a  necessary  factor  in  a  program  of  social  control.  So  we  have 
the  rule :  "Every  individual  is  to  be  educated  not  only  for  the  ser- 
vice of  others,  but  also  for  his  own  essential  living."^ 

But  we  may  go  a  step  beyond  the  mere  denial  that  the  co-opera- 
tive mode  of  life  suppresses  individuality.  We  must  reject  the 
false  view  that  men  are  essentially  egotists  and  that  genius  can  be 
stirred  only  by  material  rewards.  Human  experience  has  proved 
the  close  relation  between  happiness  and  loyalty  to  a  social  aim. 
Such  is  the  lesson  of  Goethe's  masterpiece.  In  it  we  have  an 
answer  to  the  great  question :  What  is  worth  while  ?  Faust  drank 
deeply  of  the  reputed  delights  of  life ;  wealth,  power,  honor,  carnal 
love ;  also  of  the  beauties  of  art  and  of  intellectual  pursuits.  But 
none  of  these  gave  lasting  satisfaction.  Finally  he  undertook 
to  serve  his  fellow  men.  "Then  in  useful  work,  with  himself 
forgotten  and  his  powers  employed  in  the  service  of  a  social  aim 
by  which  his  energies  were  zestfully  enlisted  because  it  was  worth 
while,  he  found  the  answer  to  the  question,  the  question  of  the 
sphinx,  that  must  be  answered  truly  by  all  who  would  live.  .  . 
We  are  social  beings,  and  though  we  may  have  many  pleasures,  we 
do  not  discover  and  realize  our  appropriate  satisfaction  save  as 
self-interest   and  devotion  become  reconciled."^     To   attain  this 

1  Intro,  to  the  Study  of  Soc,  p.  6B3. 

2  Ibid,  p.  654.  A  passage  from  Sociology  and  Ethics,  p. 158,  illustrates  the  same  thought. 
"Yonng  millionaires  who  lett  their  life  of  dainty  self-indulgence  for  the  Great  War  and 
peeled  jjotatoes  in  the  cantonments  and  were  cased  in  the  mud  of  the  trenches,  testify  that 
it  was  the  happiest  time  of  their  lives,  because  thev  were  for  the  first  tfme  included  iu  a 
great  social  co-operation  with  adequate  motives  and  were  possessed  by  the  social  devotion.' 


EDUCATION  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY  65 

view  one  need  not  have  the  exceptional  mind  and  career  of  a 
Goethe.  A  similar  faith  is  wholly  possible  for  the  average  man. 
His  own  experiences  are  the  material  out  of  which  it  will  be 
constructed,  when  the  social  atmosphere  is  cleared  by  a  vision 
of  better  social  organization.  ''The  co-operative  enterprise  of 
social  life  is  the  great  summons  to  ennobling  devotion.  To  make 
this  plain  to  the  common  sense  of  the  people,  as  the  summons  of 
war  is  plain,  is  the  highest  aim  of  education." 

The  problem  of  realizing  our  co-operative  society  has  been 
viewed  from  three  angles :  the  fact  of  social  evolution  and  the  flex- 
ibility of  the  mores,  the  consistency  of  individual  expression  with 
social  solidarity,  and  the  essential  relation  between  personal  happi- 
ness and  loyalty  to  aims  of  group  welfare.^  These  perspective:! 
have  given  ground  for  encouragement.  A  study  of  the  inner 
essence  of  society,  of  the  intricate  nature  of  social  life,  would 
indicate  however  that  we  must  not  be  too  sanquine  of  rapid  evolu- 
tion. The  mind  secures  content  and  expansion  by  a  process  called 
by  Professor  Hayes  "social  osmosis."  Social  osmosis  is  but  an- 
other name  for  association,  but  the  term  seems  especially  expres- 
sive of  the  facts  and  is  enlightening  as  an  educational  concept. 
In  physics  osmosis  means  the  passage  of  liquids  or  gases  in  both 
directions  through  separating  membranes.  Social  osmosis  means 
the  passage  of  suggestions,  of  ideas  and  of  feelings.  When  I 
speak  of  "my  life"  what  I  mean  is  the  content  of  my  stream  of 
consciousness,  my  sequence  of  thoughts,  feelings,  beliefs,  senti- 
ments, values,  loves,  animosities,  etc.  Language  is  only  the  ex- 
pression of  these.  What  is  significant  to  me  in  another  person 
is  likewise  his  stream  of  mental  states  and  activities.  "Indi- 
vidual streams  of  consciousness  flow  on  side  by  side  .  .  .  and  bi»- 
tween  these  individual  streams  of  consciousness  there  is  a  con- 
tinual osmosis."^  Social  life  is  primarily  psychic.  The  psychic 
activity  of  one  member  of  society  is  transfused  with  those  of  other 
members  of  society,  all  together  forming  the  process  of  social  life. 

1  The  problem  of  the  adequacy  of  available  motives  for  social  conduct  is  clIscusBert 
more  complntely  and  very  suggestively  in  Sociology  and  Kthics,  particularly  in  chaptor  10, 
on  the  Ethical  Function  of  Human  Predispositions,  and  chaiiter  11.  on  Socialization 
through  the  Exercise  of  Reason. 

2  Ibid,  303. 


66  EDUCATION  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY 

It  is  evident  that  substantial  progress  of  a  group  is  not  possible 
unless  the  uplift  extends  to  all  its  interdependent  units.  The 
wise  parent  surrounds  his  child  with  noble  home  influences.  But 
the  excitements  of  the  neighborhood  press  relentlessly  upon  the 
child's  attention.  Sometimes  the  outside  influences  are  elevating, 
often  they  are  commonplace  and  vicious.  And  the  child  in  the 
unfortunate  home  may  be  surrounded  from  his  beginning  by 
streams  of  evil  tendency  which  condition  his  conscious  life. 

The  fact  that  social  osmosis  is  a  process  present  in  all  environ- 
ments and  moments  of  life  shows  the  limitations  of  the  school. 
The  language  of  the  sidewalk,  the  sensational  billboard,  the  sophis- 
ticated "movie,"  the  crudities  of  the  colored  supplement,  the 
ugliness  of  neglected  streets,  the  jarrings  of  an  exploitive  system 
of  industry,  these  too  are  among  the  contributors  to  the  child's 
jjsychic  life.  An  illustration  of  the  limitation  on  the  school  is 
evident  also  in  the  degree  of  character  molding  in  the  home  during 
the  pre-school  age.  "Very  early  and  perhaps  even  before  he 
enters  the  school  room  at  six,  the  influence  of  the  family  has  deter- 
mined for  the  child  and  in  the  majority  of  cases  for  life  whether 
he  is  to  be  Catholic  or  Protestant,  Methodist  or  Presbyterian, 
standpatter  or  progressive,  whether  he  is  to  use  refined  or  degraded 
speech,  be  truthful  or  deceiving,  a  self-seeker  or  animated  by  the 
social  spirit."-^  Why  the  home  influence  is  so  powerful  in  the 
early  years  is  stated  lucidly  in  the  following  passage  which  is 
worthy  of  the  meditation  of  child  trainers.  "The  greatness  of 
this  power  is  due  to  three  well  known  principles  of  social  psychol- 
ogy :  first,  the  naivete  and  suggestibility  of  the  child.  The  empty 
mind  of  the  child  has  at  first  nothing  to  oppose  to  whatever  ideas 
are  presented,  and  it  has  no  predjudice  against  whatever  senti- 
ments are  radiated  by  its  associates.  Second,  the  principle  of 
repetition.  Even  the  well-fortified  mind  stored  with  accepted 
tastes,  approvals,  and  beliefs,  is  so  susceptible  to  the  effects  of 
repetition  as  to  give  rise  to  the  popular  remark  that  it  is  only 
necessary  to  say  a  thing  often  enough  in  order  to  have  it  believed. 
The  child  in  the  home  is  subjected  for  years  to  a  repetition  of  the 

1  latro.  to  the  Study  of  Sociology,  p.  070. 


EDUCATION  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY  67 

same  impressions.  Third,  the  principle  of  prestige.  Elders  have 
tremendous  natural  prestige  with  the  young."^ 

What  influences  can  the  school  exert  in  opposition  to  unfavor- 
able effects  of  home  and  neighborhood  life?  By  way  of  answer 
an  excellent  suggestion  is  made  in  the  sociologist's  discussion  of 
the  power  of  prestige.  We  have  seen  that  by  osmotic  processes 
the  pupil  receives  influences  from  a  vast  variety  of  sources.  But 
these  sources  of  influence  are  by  no  means  alike  in  their  effects 
since  some  have  greater  pressure  and  penetrative  power  with 
him  than  others.  When  an  individual,  group,  class,  or  institu- 
tion is  especially  effective  as  a  source  of  social  suggestion,  sym- 
pathetic radiation  and  imitation,  it  may  be  said  to  have  prestige. 
Fortunately  the  school  exerts  prestige.  In  defense  of  his  opinion 
the  young  child  asserts,  "My  teacher  said  so,"  or  ''We  do  this  way 
at  school."  Prestige  measures  the  school's  power  for  assuming 
dominant  charge  of  the  child's  life. 

But  the  school  will  not  have  prestige  unless  it  is  respected  and 
loved.  When  the  school  in  the  child's  mind  is  associated  with 
irksome  tasks  disconnected  with  concrete  realities,  a  place  where 
his  freedom  and  interests  are  suppressed,  and  where  joys  and  en- 
thusiasms are  not  felt,  such  a  school  will  not  have  prestige.  On  the 
other  hand  the  child  may  find  in  school  what  his  emerging  soul  has 
blindly  groped  for,  but  what  his  iiome  and  neighborhood  have 
failed  to  give  him,  namely,  respect  for  his  personality,  encourage- 
ment for  his  efforts,  the  joy  of  achievement,  the  thrilling  exercise 
of  new  powers,  recognized  fairness  in  dealings  with  associates, 
and  most  of  all  love  and  enthusiasms  caught  by  contacts  with  higli- 
minded  men  and  women.  With  such  wholesome  human  influences 
and  wise  methods,  combined  with  a  stately  building  efficiently 
equipped  and  artistically  surrounded,  the  school  will  fortify  its 
prestige  and  may  hope  to  be  the  dominant  directive  agency  in  the 

pupil's  life. 

Our  school  program  requires  expansion  in  the  diroc-tion  of 
moral  training.     Educators  must  make  more  direct  an.l  i^crsis- 


68  EDUCATION  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY 

tent  attempts  to  moralize  education.     Thinking  on  this  subject  is 
confused.     It  has  become  a  popuhir  view  that  nothing  can  be  done 
"directly,"  that  moral  influences  are  matters  of  the  teacher's  per- 
sonality and  of  the  general  atmosphere  of  the  school.     But  what 
pearl  of  great  price  is  ever  attained  without  direct  aim  and  effort  ? 
Undoubtedly  much  can  be  accomplished  in  moral  training  if  a 
comprehensive  plan  is  earnestly  undertaken.     We  have  seen  that 
the  mores  are  flexible   and  that  sentiments  are   acquired.     We 
need  to  aim  at  new  practices  and  inculate  new  sentiments  centered 
about  co-operative  modes  of  social  life.     The  spirit  of  competition 
in  school  should  give  way  to  co-operation.     All  opportunities  must 
be  used  for  instilling  sentiments  in  support  of  the  essential  traits, 
reliability,    temperance,    steadiness    and    the   social   spirit.     The 
social  spirit  in  particular  we  found  to  be  a  product  of  reason ; 
therefore  its  acquisition  is  a  matter  for  direct     teaching.^     The 
ability  of  a  school  to  inculcnte  these  traits  should  be  the  mark  of 
its  success.     We  found  that  ambition  is  socially  directed,  and  that 
standards  of  success  are  social  products.     The  school  can  set  up 
standards  of  success  and  by  them  estimate  the  worth  of  careers  with 
reference  to  the  common  welfare.     In  so  doing  it  will  influence  the 
direction  of  ambition.     The  school  can  broaden  the  pupil's  in- 
terests in  men  and   in  nature ;   we  found  that  persons  of  wide 
interests  are  better  citizens.     The  school  can  give  content  to  the 
pupil's  developing  conscience  code.     In  short  the  school  must  set 
about  in  a  direct  way  to  prepare  the  child  for  membership  in  a 
moralized   co-operative   society.     There  is  no   question   that  the 
school  already  provides  moral  influences.     Our  assertion  is  that 
efforts  in  this   direction  must  be  vastly  increased.     "The  slow 
dragging  centuries  will  continue  to  drag  and  the  destiny  of  human- 
ity go  unfulfilled  in  spite  of  all  the  progress  in  science  and  indus- 
try, unless  there  be  commensurate  progress  in  morality."^ 

The  following  is  a  brief  summary  of  the  argument.  Means  of 
control  are  necessary  to  secure  solidarity  in  any  society.  While 
in  very  primitive  and  personal  groups  instincts  and  natural  traits 

1  For  a  detailed  exposition  of  the  place  of  reason  in  developing  the  moral  nature,  see 
Sociology  and  Ethics,  chapter  11,  on  Socialization  through  the  Exercise  of  Reason. 

2  Intro,  to  the  Study  of  Sociology,  p.  670, 


EDUCATION"  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY  69 

may  suffice  as  bonds  of  cohesion,  in  well  civilized  societies  some- 
wliat  elaborate  agencies  of  control  are  necessary.  Through  its 
agencies  of  control  the  developed  society  is  able  consciously  and 
rationally  to  direct  the  social  process.  To  direct  it  wisely  it  should 
set  up  a  goal  to  be  attained.  We  have  assumed  the  goal  to  be,  the 
increasing  realization  of  good  human  experience.  Society  will 
work  for  a  rational  goal  only  if  control  is  united  with  enlighten- 
ment. Enlightened  control  depends  upon  the  prevalence  of  a 
type  of  personality  characterized  by  certain  social  traits.  The 
desired  type  of  personality  is  attainable  by  education.  We  found 
that  the  adaptability  of  the  mores,  the  consistency  of  individual 
expression  with  social  progress,  and  the  unity  of  personal  happi- 
ness with  group  welfare,  are  factors  encouraging  to  the  realization 
of  the  social  ideal.  We  found  also  that  the  osmotic  pressure  of  a 
variety  of  retarding  influences  hamper  the  school's  work  of  whole- 
some mind  training;  but  that  the  school  can  overcome  much  of 
this  limitation  by  establishing  its  prestige  in  the  pupil's  life,  and 
by  a  more  searching  and  vigorous  plan  of  moral  training. 


<i>]iiiiiiiiiiiiaiiiiiMiiiiic4> 


"^0  EDUCATION  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY 

VII. 

RESUME. 

Educational  Sociology. 

I"""" """""""ff  S   social  philosophy  usually  but  an  excrescence  or 

I  w  I  interpretation  of  underlying  popular  sentiment? 
ill  Does  the  philosopher  and  thinker  lead  public  opin- 
I  I   ion,  or  merely  reflect  it  ?     One  writer  expressed 

¥:iiiiiiiiiiiiaiiHiiiiimi^  the  view  recently  that  the  doctrines  of  the  scientist 
I  I    are  both   effect   and  cause  of  the  social  environ- 

I  ment,  a  thesis  which  he  illustrated  by  reference  to 
two  famous  biological  scientists,  Weismann  and 
Galton.^  In  denying  the  hereditary  transmission  of  acquired 
characteristics,  Weismann,  it  is  claimed,  reflected  the  social  dis- 
tinctions of  his  native  Germany.  His  theory  too  has  contributed 
much  to  the  tide  of  imperialism  of  our  day;  in  fact,  it  has  been 
so  twisted  as  to  have  become  a  bulwark  of  reaction.  Galton,  the 
Englishman,  glorified  hereditary  talent.  Certainly  no  modern 
country  has  extended  official  recognition  to  talent  as  has  England, 
and  at  the  same  time,  no  western  country  has  so  kept  up  the 
forms  due  to  birth.  This  writer  asserts  that  a  neo-aristocratic 
philosophy  has  arisen  which  has  its  roots  in  the  doctrine  of  Weis- 
mann and  Galton.  Perhaps  we  should  expect  the  opinions  of 
even  scientists  to  be  colored  by  the  social  environment.  Did  not 
the  clear-headed  Aristotle  deny  a  soul  to  the  slave? 

Whatever  be  the  merits  of  this  interpretation  of  Weismanniau 
and  Galtonian  theories,  there  would  seem  to  be  something  dis- 
tinctly American  in  the  wi'itings  of  our  sociologists.  They  reflect 
American  aspirations  and  ideals,  at  least  when  these  are  at  their 
best.  They  furnish  us  with  deeper  meanings  and  possibilities  of 
democracy.     Of  the  writers  discussed  in  this  series  of  articles 

1  See  Current  Opinion,  September,  1920. 


EDUCATION  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY  7l 

all  are  champions  of  democratic  ideas ;  in  all  we  find  a  profound 
belief  in  the  people,  an  assertion  of  the  worth  of  the  individual, 
a  rejection  of  the  sway  of  the  superman.  It  may  be  these  views 
are  partly  the  effect  of  an  undertow  of  popular  feeling.  We  may 
hope  they  are  at  the  same  time  prophetic  of  the  future  and  will 
have  a  guiding  influence  on  the  trend  of  the  national  life. 

Perhaps  the  thought  uppermost  in  the  mind  of  Ward,  a  thought 
which  he  held  to  the  day  he  died,  as  evidenced  in  late  addresses, 
was  of  the  tremendous  possibilities  for  social  good  which  repose 
in  the  latent  capacities  of  the  masses.  The  social  organization 
was  to  be  perfected,  and  collective  happiness  attained,  by  putting 
the  latent  to  use.  Knowledge  was  the  means.  It  is  the  right 
of  each  and  every  individual  to  share  fully  in  the  knowledge  and 
culture  which  the  race  has  accumulated  up  to  the  present  moment. 
Each  is  by  nature  joint  heir  to  the  social  estate.  It  is  the  opinion 
of  agronomists,  says  Hayes,  that  the  yield  of  American  corn  lands 
could  be  doubled  by  the  application  of  the  lessons  of  science,  and 
likewise,  he  asserts,  the  harvest  of  life  for  the  people  of  America 
could  be  doubled  if  the  possibilities  with  which  they  are  endowed 
by  nature  were  brought  to  approximate  realization.  One  of  Todd's 
striking  passages  upholds  the  latent  fineness  of  the  individual, 
notwithstanding  an  ugly  exterior,  and  suggests  too  the  means  of 
turning  him  to  the  higher  life.  After  a  comment  on  the  work 
of  Burbank  in  changing  the  character  of  plants,  he  asks,  ''Where 
is  the  wizard  who  will  turn  thorny,  unproductive,  selfish,  shirking, 
cross-grained  human  natures  into  co-operators,  good  citizens,  and 
members  of  a  great,  united  human  brotherhood  ?  He  is  perhaps 
even  now  in  our  midst.  But,  whoever  he  is,  it  is  safe  to  say  that 
his  means  will  be  social  education,  centering  about  a  new  concept 
of  the  self.  And  his  philosophy  will  be  a  constructive  optimism 
that  includes  a  liberal  view  of  human  nature,  precisely  because 
human  nature  and  the  self  are  trustworthy  when  given  proper 
surroundings.  'Human  nature  is  all  right  as  it  is,'  declares  u 
modern  preacher.     'Human  nature  needs  no  change  and  nobody 


72 


EDUCATION  IN  RECEIS'^T  SOCIOLOGY 


is  trying  to  change  it.  It  only  needs  a  chance.'  "^  The  man 
without  social  vision  sees  only  what  his  eyes  reveal.  The  man 
with  it  sees  the  latencies  in  the  human  situation. 

A  belief  in  the  masses  and  the  ascription  of  worth  to  every 
individual  is,  of  course,  wholly  consistent  with  the  recognition  cf 
natural  leadership.  By  means  of  educating  all,  Ward  hoped  to 
increase  social  leadership;  he  said  that  by  a  system  of  universal 
education  especially  talented  leaders,  'the  dynamic  agents  of  so- 
ciety," could  be  increased  one  hundred  fold.  Ellwood  makes  the 
statement  that  "IsTothing  great  is  achieved  in  human  society  with- 
out personal  leadership.  .  .  .  From  the  simplest  stone  imple- 
ment to  the  automobile,  most  men  have  had  to  use  or  copy  the 
invention  of  the  exceptional  mind."  In  fact,  it  is  when  the  laten- 
cies of  the  masses  are  recognized  that  the  question  of  leadership 
becomes  all  the  more  important.  The  selection  and  training  of 
leaders  today  is  especially  the  task  of  the  higher  institutions  of 
learning.  It  is  of  the  utmost  practical  importance  that  they  per- 
form their  tasks  well,  because  "with  expert  leadership  the  capacity 
of  civilized  people  for  social  progTess  might  be  increased  almost 
indefinitely."*  But  the  leadership  urged  by  Ward  and  Ellwood 
is  the  kind  that  issues  in  service.  There  is  no  safe  leadership 
unless  the  people  are  intelligent  enough  to  select  leaders  who  aim 
to  serve.  Todd  issues  a  warning  against  the  egotistical  domi- 
nance of  some  "natural"  leaders.  "Is  it  not  time  to  cease  paying 
with  no  questions  asked  the  price  demanded  by  Caesar  or  John, 
Warwick  or  Richard  the  Third,  iN'apoleon  or  Bismarck?  .  .  . 
Utilize  the  elite;  cultivate  genius,  if  that  be  possible;  endow  it, 
if  necessary  to  protect  it  from  want  (great  inventive  genius  has 
scarcely  ever  been  appropriately  cared  for)  ;  reward  it  according 
to  real  contribution;  but  make  it  an  aristocracy  like  that  of 
Aristides,  who,  in  a  memorable  debate,  challenged  his  opponent 
in  these  terms :  'It  is  for  us  to  struggle,  both  now  and  ever,  which 
of  us  shall  perform  the  greatest  services  to  his  country.'  "^ 

It  is  evident  that  the  school  should  supply  for  the  youth  it 

3  Theories  of  Social  Progress,  p.  8. 

4  K'lwood  :  Intro,  to  Social  Psy.,  p.  158. 

5  Theories  of  Social  Progress,  p.  542. 


EDUCATION  IN"  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY  '  O 

teaches  standards  for  the  judging  of  great  men.  It  should  help 
him  to  estimate  the  paramount  influence  of  this  and  that  hero. 
The  worth  of  each  should  be  ascertained  bv  searching  examina- 
tion. The  contribution  each  has  made  to  human  welfare  is  the 
test.  If  this  had  been  done  there  might  not  have  been  such  a 
large  cult  of  Napoleon  worshippers  in  the  late  nineteenth  centurv. 
The  school  too  must  strive  to  develop  leaders.  But  in  some 
quarters  today  leadership  is  over-emphasized,  to  the  neglect  of 
the  education  of  the  masses.  If  we  required  everv  boy  and  girl 
in  the  country  to  complete  an  education  in  a  well  organized  high 
school  the  problem  of  leadership  would  take  care  of  itself.  What 
we  need  most  of  all  is  a  heightened  general  intelligence  for  the 
fielection  and  stimulation  of  leaders. 

All  the  writers  studied  present  a  dynamic  view  of  society. 
Humanity  is  in  movement.  Ward's  great  work  is  Dynamic 
Sociology.  He  said  sociology  had  to  do  with  human  achievement 
Todd's  central  problem  is  that  of  social  progress,  movement  in 
the  direction  of  human  well  being.  Cooley's  last  book  is  named 
Social  Process,  and  the  opening  sentence  reads,  "We  see  around 
us  in  the  world  of  men  an  onward  movement  of  life."  The  same 
is  true  of  Ross.  Of  the  fifty-seven  chapters  in  his  Principles  of 
Sociology,  thirty-eight  treat  of  social  processes.  Society  is  dy- 
namic; nevertheless,  at  every  stage  we  find  a  relative  fixity. 
Society  is  held  together  by  various  forms  of  organization,  institu- 
tions, customs,  modes  of  thought.  At  any  given  stage  these  forms 
determine  the  character  of  the  individual.  We  found  the  child's 
life  to  be  a  reflection  of  the  organized  mind  of  his  group.  Society 
itself,  as  Ellwood  insists,  is  fundamentally  organized  mind.  The 
mental  attitudes  of  one  group  are  affected  by  the  attitudes  which 
exist  or  are  supposed  to  exist  in  other  gi-oups.  In  spite  of  the 
"vision  splendid"  of  idealistic  youth,  he  most  likely  becomes  a 
fielf-seeking  shirk  when  ushered  into  a  form  of  organization  char- 
acterized by  egotism  and  exploitation.  Fortunately,  the  social 
mind  is  always  capable  of  reorganization.  The  dynamic  concep- 
tion is  optimistic.  A  d\aiamic  society  is  ever  shuflling  off  old  for 
new  forms  of  organization.     In  so  far  as  the  movcnient  is  pro- 


74  EDUCATION  IN  EECENT  SOCIOLOGY 

gressive,  it  means  deeper  understanding  among  the  individuals 
and  groups  making  up  the  whole,  greater  reciprocal  good  will, 
and  increased  common  devotion  to  the  general  welfare. 

Education  as  the  means  to  progi'ess  has  been  emphasized  in  all 
the  preceding  articles.  With  AYard  it  is  the  general  diffusion  of 
scientific  knowledge.  This  is  the  only  path  to  a  higher  organi- 
zation of  society  and  to  effect  it  we  need  a  deep  and  universal 
faith  in  popular  education.  Centuries  ago  men  built  great  cathe- 
drals, expressions  of  their  collective  faith  and  aspiration.  Men 
aspire  no  less  today,  but  their  aims  have  a  new  direction.  Today 
our  hopes  center  in  better  social  organization,  and  in  education  as 
the  means  of  attaining  it.  Todd  approaches  the  problem  of 
progress  from  many  avenues,  and  in  each  of  them  finds  the  answer 
in  social  education.  The  problem  of  society  to  Hayes  is  to  unite 
social  control  and  enlightenment,  and  enlightened  control  neces- 
sarily rests  upon  educated  personalities.  Ellwood  sees  the  need 
of  a  deep  popular  faith  in  education  as  the  savior  and  regenerator 
of  democracy.  And  it  must  be  a  practical  faith,  leading  to  ade- 
quate financial  support  of  schools.  He  emphasizes  especially 
education  for  unselfish  leadership,  moral  training  in  the  public 
schools,  and  much  more  attention  in  the  curriculum  to  the  social 
studies. 

When  we  urge  education  as  the  social  panacea,  however,  we 
must  acknowledge  limitations  in  the  material  at  hand.  What 
ought  to  be  taught  is  often  not  clear.  Ward  lamented  the  absence 
of  social  knowledge.  And  there  is  today  a  lack  of  settled  prin- 
ciples and  standards  of  conduct,  an  uncertainty  of  what  is  con- 
sistent with  the  higher  social  organization.  Old  forms  are  pass- 
ing away  before  new  ones  are  substituted.  "The  higher  moral- 
ity," says  Cooley,  "if  it  is  to  be  attained  at  all,  must  be  especially 
thought  out."  It  has  by  no  means  been  thought  out  in  applica- 
tion to  the  many  specific  human  situations  in  which  a  person 
finds  himself  a  part.  "We  find,  then,  that  people  have  to  make  up 
their  own  minds  upon  their  duties  as  wives,  husbands,  mothers, 
and  daughters ;  upon  commercial  obligations  and  citizenship.  .  .  . 
Inevitably  many  of  us  make  a  poor  business  of  it.     It  is  too 


EDUCATION  IN  EECENT  SOCIOLOGY  75 

mucli."^  We  need  to  teach  young  people  the  best  ethical  stand- 
ards kno^vn  to  us  to  meet  these  specific  situations.  But  we 
need  also  the  assistance  of  a  group  of  social  seers  to  shape  and 
clarify  the  standards  themselves.  These  standards  constitute  the 
social  organization.  Nowhere  is  the  work  of  the  leader  so  vitally 
required. 

The  social  seer  will,  of  course,  be  an  expert  in  the  science  of 
society.  Ethics  has  become  essentially  a  social  study.  All  stand- 
ards of  conduct  pertain  to  social  situations.  Sociology  and  ethics 
closely  blend  with  sociology,  the  larger  term.  The  most  recent 
statement  on  the  relation  of  sociology  and  ethics  is  by  Hayes. "^ 
According  to  him  these  sciences  coincide  both  in  their  practical 
and  theoretical  aspects.  It  should  be  noted,  however,  that  he  dis- 
counts a  priori  speculation,  which  has  been  the  historical  method 
of  ethics.  Ethics  is  a  study  of  objective  realities,  its  field  being 
the  facts  of  social  life.  But  while  sociology  seeks  causes  and 
explanations  of  social  realities  in  all  divisions  of  social  life,  ethics 
is  concerned  with  these  only  in  so  far  as  they  issue  in  good  or  evil. 
It  has  to  do  with  "the  terminus  ad  quern  of  the  life  men  live  in 
society."  In  fact,  all  of  the  sociologies  studied  are  contributions 
to  the  science  of  ethics.  This  means  that  certain  types  of  human 
relationship  and  forms  of  social  organization  are  urged  as  supe- 
rior. These  writings  show  evidence  of  enthusiastic  human  inter- 
est, and  a  ^dsion  of  a  social  order  as  yet  far  from  realization. 
Problems  of  right  and  wrong  are  suggested  by  the  contrast  betwoon 
that  which  is  and  that  which  ought  to  be.  It  is  obvious  to  the 
reader  that  the  ^vriters  are  men  intensely  interested  in  the  trend 
of  the  social  process,  let  us  say,  in  the  outcome  of  the  social  con- 
flict. Their  writings  indicate  a  liberal  view  of  human  nature. 
In  human  nature  and  society  are  latencies  that  have  never  been 
elicited.  These  latencies  afford  the  possibilitis  of  new  and  supe- 
rior forms  of  social  organization.  If  present  forms  do  not  accord 
with  the  expression  of  human  nature  thus  liberally  conceived, 
progress  requires  the  substitution  of  new  forms  of  organization, 

6  Social  Organization,  p.  352. 

7  Sociology  and  Kthics,  1921 


76  EDrCATION"  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY 

and  still  new  forms  as  consistent  with  increasing  human  welfare. 
Institutions  of  the  past  are  not  rejected  without  searching  exam- 
ination of  their  worth ;  a  worth,  however,  to  be  estimated  always 
in  reference  to  the  growth  and  expression  of  the  human  self  as 
a  social  being. 

About  twenty-five  years  ago,  when  students  were  prepared  for 
teaching,  it  was  common  to  introduce  them  to  a  form  of  Hegel- 
ianism  as  contained  in  the  "Philosophy  of  Education,"  by  Rosen- 
kranz.  They  were  supposed  to  find  guidance  as  teachers  in  a 
metaphysical  scheme  of  the  universe  to  which  the  teaching  pro- 
cess was  in  some  way  related.  It  became  apparent  that  this  kind 
of  training  was  inadequate  to  solve  the  practical  problems  faced 
by  the  schools.  A  scientific  movement,  now  less  than  twenty  years 
old,  followed  the  earlier  metaphysical  attempts  at  an  acceptable 
pedagog^^  It  has  had  to  do  with  the  technique  of  instruction, 
and  particularly  with  the  nature  and  development  of  the  indi- 
vidual mind.  In  fact,  it  has  been  almost  wholly  psychological. 
The  more  recent  fruits  of  this  movement  are  innumerable  devices 
for  subjecting  educational  processes  and  products  to  quantitative 
measurement.  The  larger  view  point  of  philosophy  has  been 
wholly  buried,  or  at  least  side-tracked,  by  endeavors  to  bring  under 
scientific  scrutiny  the  many  details  of  school  work.  As  was  said, 
this  movement  has  more  to  do  with  technique,  with  measuring 
results,  with  determining  efiiciency  in  relation  to  accepted  or 
assumed  standards,  than  with  a  consideration  of  more  ultimate 
ends  of  the  educational  process.  It  seems  to  be  concerned  more 
with  the  manner  of  the  going  and  with  the  elimination  of  lost 
motion  than  with  underlying  purposes.  It  gives  at  best,  then, 
an  incomplete  view  of  pedagogy,  something  which  needed  to  be 
built  up,  but  nevertheless  only  a  means.  The  larger  view  must 
be  sought  and  developed.  We  can  understand  means  only  in 
relation  to  an  end,  a  part  only  in  relation  to  a  whole.  To  secure 
the  larger  view  of  the  business  of  education  is  the  next  im- 
portant step  in  building  up  a  scientific  pedagogy.  It  is  not 
metaphysics,  however,  that  will  supply  it.  It  is  to  be  found  rather 
in  a  far-seeing  scientific  sociology. 


EDUCATION  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY  77 

Why  will  sociology  supply  it?     The  mariner  charted  the  seas 
and  the  heavens  above  them.     The  sociologist  is  attempting  to 
chart  the  world  of  social  reality.     As  Ward  pointed  out,  we  have 
a  chemistry,  a  physics,  and  a  biology  that  reduce  to  natural  law. 
That  ascertainable  forces  operate  likewise  in  human  society,  that 
social  relationships  reduce  to  uniformity  and  generalisation,  can- 
not be  doubted.     A  scientific  sociology  is  but  a  matter  of  study 
and  discovery.     It  is  enormously  helped  by  the  achievements  of 
modem  psychology,  because  human  nature  is  at  the  core  of  the 
social  problem.     Psychology  has  given  us  a  new  view  of  the  innate 
man  disentangled  from  social  tradition.     We  behold  his  tenden- 
cies, powers,  and  latencies,  and  the  results  of  these  in  the  social 
life ;  and  we  may  behold,  too,  the  possibilities  of  new  combina- 
tions of  these  for  new  and  superior  forms  of  social  organization. 
By  its  study  of  social  organization,  actual  and  possible,  and  of  the 
factors  which  make  for  human  advance,  sociology  furnishes  the 
materials  which  give  us    the  larger  view  of  the  educational  process. 

Books  under  the  name  of  educational  sociology  are  beginning 
to  appear.     An  examination  of  the  contents  of  those  so  far  pub- 
lished indicates  little  recognition  of  common  ground.     One  enters 
the  field  seeking  the  solution  of  detailed  educational  problems; 
some  other  presents  a  selected  body  of  sociological  theory  pre- 
sumed to  have  educational  uses.     The  subject'  is  as  yet  hybrid, 
and  what  to  emphasize  is  a  matter  of  choice.     But  the  sociologists 
themselves  have  contributed  much  to  this  field.     And  when  we 
learn  from  the  sociologist  what  a  vital  factor  education  is  in  the 
social  process,  we  are  the  more  impressed  because  we  assume  it  is 
an  unpremeditated  judgment.     Theories  of  Social  Progress  is  a 
significant   contribution   to  educational   sociology,   and   yet   the 
latter  is  not  the  theme  of  Todd's  work.     The  book  presents  an 
impartial  search  for  the  means  of  progress,  and  the  conclusion 
that  the  means  are  found  in  social  education  is  all  the  more  sig- 
nificant to  the  teacher  by  virtue  of  the  method  followed.    Ellwood'o 
sociology  resolves  itself  into   an  exposition  of  the  fundamental 
identity  of  the  social  process  and  the  educational  process,  and  he 
finds  in  this  relation  a  basis  upon  which  educational  sociology 


78  EDUCATION  IN  EECENT  SOCIOLOGY 

must  be  built.  The  sociology  of  Hayes  sets  up  a  social  goal  and 
finds  in  education  the  only  means  of  attaining  it. 

Whatever  the  field  of  educational  sociology  should  ideally 
include.  I  take  it  that  the  three  following  factors  are  especially 
important  to  the  student  of  this  subject: 

(a)  A  study  of  the  theories  and  principles  of  sociology.  A 
half-dozen  well  selected  books  from  our  American  sociologists 
could  be  read  in  one  year  at  college.  These  would  give  the  socio- 
logical habit  of  thought.  They  would  present  society  in  an  organic 
view  which  we  found  meant  "seeing  things  whole."  They  would 
furnish  the  main  problems  of  social  organization  and  progress. 
They  would  supply  conceptions  of  ends  to  be  attained  in  the 
social  process,  ends  to  become  the  aims  of  rational  effort.  We 
found  the  goal  of  progress  to  be  a  complex  involving  various 
factors,  all,  however,  concerned  with  human  well  being.  It  is 
important  to  keep  in  mind  what  these  factors  are;^  also  that  any 
definition  of  progress  must  center  around  a  concept  of  human 
nature  as  plastic  and  potentially  co-operative  in  a  social  whole. 

We  were  reminded  by  Ellwood  that  the  moral  ideal  should  be 
pictured  not  as  a  perfect  individual  but  as  a  perfect  society.  It 
would  be  very  useful  if  some  definite  representation  of  a  perfected 
social  organization  could  be  presented.  Since  education  is  the 
fundamental  pathway  to  the  social  goal,  should  not  the  goal  assume 
clear  shape  in  the  minds  of  the  leaders  of  education?  But  how 
shall  our  perfected  social  organization  be  pictured, — as  Platonic 
Republic,  City  of  God,  Utopia,  or  modern  socialistic  state  ?  Such 
pictures  have  had  great  vogue.  The  unending  conflicts  of  opinion 
concerning  the  Republic  testify  to  man's  inherent  longing  for  a 
just  social  order.  The  shortcomings  of  these  historic  schemes 
are  mainly  two.  They  are  based  upon  too  limited  a  view  of 
human  nature,  therefore  on  a  pseudo  psychology,  an  ignorance, 
however,  rapidly  receding  before  present-day  advances  in  social 
psychology.  And  second,  they  are  static.  No  human  mind  is 
intelligent  enough  to  construct  the  final  social  state.     And  although 

8  See  e.  g.  definition  of  progress  in  Article  III,  on  Todd's  Sociolo^ry. 


EDUCATION  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY  79 

useful  as  hypotheses,  all  schemes  of  an  ideal  state  must  be  tenta- 
tive. Perhaps  no  scientific  sociologist  would  risk  his  reputation 
to  produce  a  graphic  picture  of  the  ideal  state.  N^evertheless,  the 
sociologists  do  present  us  with  the  elements,  the  essential  building 
blocks,  that  must  enter  into  the  construction  of  the  social  edifice. 
Thev  indicate  the  avenues  which  lead  to  progress,  as  it  has  been 
the  purpose  of  this  series  of  articles  to  show. 

(b)  Sociology  furnishes  us  with  social  aims.  These  aims 
provide  the  underlying  purposes  of  education.  They  may  be 
furthered  or  hindered  by  innumerable  agencies  other  than  the 
school.  Educational  sociology  may  well  strive  to  estimate  the 
educational  effects,  in  reference  to  social  aims,  of  institutions, 
agencies  and  community  factors,  such  as  the  existing  state,  family 
life,  the  church,  the  treatment  of  crime,  methods  of  administer- 
ing charity,  the  theater,  moving  picture  shows,  athletic  contests, 
county  fairs  and  city  expositions,  city  planning  and  beautification, 
newspapers  and  magazines,  public  libraries  and  museums,  the 
stock  exchange,  chambers  of  commerce,  great  department  stores, 
newspaper  and  bill-board  advertising,  women's  clubs  and  organ- 
izations, labor  organizations,  professional  associations,  fraternal 
societies,  semi-religious  associations  like  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  play 
facilities  for  children  and  adults,  congested  sections  of  cities, 
employment  in  factories,  in  department  stores  and  on  the  farm, 
farmers'  organizations,  good  roads,  the  religious  revival,  the  polit- 
ical campaign,  etc. 

Lester  F.  Ward  wrote  nearly  forty  years  ago:  "The  doctrine 
that  education  is  an  active  factor  in  Dynamic  Sociolog;)'  is  simply 
a  corollary  from  the  doctrine  of  evolution  in  general,  which  rests 
upon  the  power  of  environment  to  mold  the  organism.  For  what 
is  education  but  a  quality  of  the  environment?"®  The  above 
agencies  are  the  influential  factors  in  the  social  environment. 
They  determine  in  large  measure  the  character  of  the  individual 
and  of  the  group  life.  They  have  the  power  to  further  or  retard 
the  ends  of  social  progress.  The  student  of  educational  sociology 
will  keep  definitely  in  mind  conceptions  of  fundamental  social 

9  Dynamic  Sociology  II,  p.  635. 


80  EDUCATION  I]!^  KECENT  SOCIOLOGY 

aims.  AVitli  these  as  norms  lie  will  endeavor  to  estimate  the 
educational  influence  of  the  above  and  of  other  agencies  in  the 
en^dronment.  This  means,  of  course,  that  many  concrete  inves- 
tigations will  have  to  be  made  to  supply  the  content  of  an  educa- 
tional sociolog}", 

(c)  The  school  is  the  main  agency  for  the  realization  of  social 
aims.  The  first  essential  is  that  the  fundamental  aims  of  pro- 
gress be  kept  clearly  in  mind  throughout  the  organization  and 
administration  of  the  school.  Of  course  this  will  not  be  done 
fully  until  superintendents,  teachers,  school  directors,  and  the 
public  take  up  the  study  of  sociology.  We  should  at  least  expect 
this  pursuit  on  the  part  of  teachers  and  superintendents.  A  school 
taught  and  administered  without  a  definite  conception  of  social 
aims  is  like  a  ship  sailing  the  ocean  with  no  port  ahead. 

A  definition  of  social  aims  is  especially  important  today  because 
new  responsibilities  are  being  forced  upon  the  school.  Histori- 
cally considered,  the  school  is  the  bearer  of  tradition,  the  trans- 
mitter of  accepted  social  values.  It  secures  for  each  new  gener- 
ation the  inheritance  of  the  past,  l^evertheless,  if  the  school  is 
to  become  an  important  factor  in  social  progi'ess,  this  body  of 
tradition  needs  constant  reappraisement  in  the  light  of  social 
aims.  The  question,  "What  knowledge  is  of  most  worth  ?"  must 
be  asked  and  re-asked.  To  keep  pace  with  social  progress  the 
school  must  accept  new  functions.  At  present  the  danger  is  that 
too  much  will  be  unloaded  upon  it.  If  parental  duties  are  neg- 
lected, it  is  urged  that  the  school  make  up  the  deficiency;  if  the 
church  fails  in  its  task  of  religious  education,  it  is  demanded 
that  this  work  be  done  at  school;  if  the  business  man  finds  his 
employees  inefiicient,  the  school  is  asked  to  emphasize  commercial 
subjects.  The  school  has  always  been  an  object  of  interest  for 
propagandists  of  various  kinds.  To  what  extent  shall  the  school 
take  over  the  work  of  other  institutions  ?  What  shall  be  its  atti- 
tude toward  new  reform  movements  ?  To  do  justice  to  tradition, 
to  reconcile  the  claims  of  vocational  and  cultural  training,  to  pro- 
tect itself  against  propaganda,  and  at  the  same  time  to  be  a 
dynamic  agent  in  a  progressive  society,  requires  a  fine  balancing 
of  social  aims.     This  is  the  work  of  an  educational  sociology. 


EDUCATION  IN  RECENT  SOCIOLOGY  81 

An  educational  sociolog^^  is  concerned  with  the  work  of  social- 
izing the  school.  This  means  that  the  school  should  be  recon- 
structed so  that  the  pupil  will  find  expression  and  development  in 
co-operative  activities  of  social  value.  It  means,  too,  the  defining 
of  specific  objectives  to  be  attained  by  the  school  studies.  Keep- 
ing in  mind  the  fundamental  social  aims  to  be  reached  by  educa- 
tional methods,  the  problem  is,  what  are  the  immediate  ends  to 
be  sought  through  geography,  history,  civics,  language,  and  all 
other  subjects  and  activities  of  the  school,  A  few  good  contri- 
butions have  already  been  made  along  this  line,  but  most  of  the 
work  is  still  to  be  done.  It  is  distinctly  the  problem  of  an  educa- 
tional sociology. 

Some  men  prominent  in  the  educational  field  urge  that  the 
immediate  objectives  are  all  that  require  definition.  These  men 
have  justly  revolted  against  the  vague  and  general  educational 
aims  set  up  in  the  past.  They  demand  now  that  the  objectives 
of  education  be  stated  wholly  in  concrete  and  specific  terms.  But 
without  the  larger  sociological  view  and  a  grasp  of  underlying 
social  purposes,  the  immediate  step  taken  may  prove  a  false  one; 
and  again,  without  them  it  is  more  difficult  to  keep  able  men  in 
the  work.  Is  it  not  probable  that  some  of  that  large  number 
who  left  the  teaching  profession  the  past  four  years  would  have 
remained  at  their  tasks  had  they  grasped  the  real  meaning  of 
education  as  a  force  in  human  advance  ?  "Let  education  become 
dynamic,  let  it  thrill  with  a  vision  of  becoming  the  chariot  horses 
and  the  chariot  in  which  society  shall  urge  itself  forward  to  a 
better  day,  and  men  and  women  of  the  first  rank  will  arise  and 
consecrate  themselves  to  make  the  vision  full  reality." 


